Finding Grace
by Leonhard van Euler
Summary: When Harry finds out he has a living family member, he visits America only to find that his half-brother is none other than the prophet Chuck. A millennia ago, before there were angels or humans, there was Darkness, Light and the In Between. The Darkness was locked up and the In Between left. Light ( God) created the humans so as not to be lonely. And now the brothers are back.
1. Chapter 1

**So hey, I had a lot of awesome feedback for my oneshot where Harry's God's brother, so I decided to write something with a few chapters. Hope you like the first one. I already have three more lined up. XD Enjoy!**

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When the war had ended in Wizarding Britain, chaos was unleashed. After several years of living in an oppressed state; wondering when the next attack might come, constantly having to look over one's shoulder, it was understandable that the magical government and the subjects of said government were in utter anarchy.

The only person who had been brave enough to take up the position of temporary Minister of Magic had been Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had taken it upon himself, to completely destroy the foundations of the magical government and then rebuild it anew.

At his side, stood undersecretary Hermione Granger (soon to be Weasley), who spearheaded their campaigns and continued to advocate equal rights for magical creatures of all kind. And at _her_ side, stood the proud soon-to-be Head Auror, Ronald Weasley.

This was, as the press liked to call it, the 'Dream Team'. The perfect match of people to reconstruct Magical Britain and modernise it. The tabloids had over the years, decided to ignore the recluse Harry Potter, who had saved them all from the instigator - the self-named terrorist Voldemort - of the oppression that had reigned over Britain during the war.

Every now and then, rumours were snatched up by the _Daily Telegraph_ and printed somewhere on page twenty-four. Every now and again, people would claim to have seen Harry Potter in Diagon Alley; or in Hogsmead. Some even dared to say that he had moved back into Godric's Hollow. The place at which events had happened on the 31st of October that made Harry Potter famous in the first place.

Said man was currently sitting in his dining room in Grimmauld Place. In his hand he held a spread out newspaper, which partly rested over his crossed legs. His other hand held the plastic stick of his lollypop, the tip of which had been enclosed by his lips. The only thing on the pompous dining table was a steaming cup of tea which a House Elf - Kreacher - had brought up.

Absently, Harry picked up his cup of tea and took a sip, while glaring at the newspaper article that had been recently written about him. By now, he had become used to the slander and gossip that was constantly being printed in the news, but that didn't make the falsehoods any less annoying to read. According to this last article, Harry was planning to initiate an expedition to the North Pole to investigate whether _that_ was really the origin of magic. And apparently, he was going to take the Sub-Seeker of the Holyhead Harpies - Ginevra Weasley - with him.

Snorting, Harry put the newspaper down; and as soon as he did so, a bowl with oatmeal and fruits appeared in front of him. Silently, to himself, Harry thanked Kreacher and dug in, absently thinking about his appointment with the Family Department of the Magical War Office.

…

The moment Harry stepped out of the fireplace in the Ministry of Magic main hall, he felt as though a thousand eyes had turned upon him. Gently straightening his wizard robes (which he personally found really uncomfortable), Harry walked to the Security Desk standing right next to the lifts.

"Good afternoon, Mr Munch," Harry said silently, aware that behind him everyone had gone into a flurry of excitement and movement. Munch observed him for a moment, eyes wide as he took him in. The last time he had seen Harry was when said boy - now man - had been tried in front of the Wizengamot. Harry for his part had grown taller (well, a little), and had filled out a little. He was still scrawny and small, but at least now people referred to him as Mr or sir, and not as 'little boy'. His hair had become lighter and his eyes more intense, albeit tired; his facial features more defined and sharper. ***1(A/N)**

"Your wand, Mr Potter?"

Harry winked at him, "Didn't know you swung that way, Eric."

Munch gaped at him for a moment, before he blushed and took the wand that Harry passed over to him; his holly wand. The Elder Wand now lay where it belonged; in Dumbledore's grave. Examining it, and weighing it, he sighed and muttered that everything was in order. With a cheerful nod, Harry took a lift to the six and a half floor: The War Office.

Apparently news travelled fast, because when the doors opened, a woman was standing there, seemingly expecting him; she didn't bat an eyelash when Harry stepped forwards and greeted him politely. "Mr Grant is expecting you, sir. Right this way."

They meandered down several corridors, and finally reached a simple door with a plaque that read 'Connor Grant'. Harry nodded in thanks and knocked on the door. He was greeted openly by Mr Grant, who proceeded to sit him down and offer him a glass of Sherry, which Harry declined.

"So, Mr Potter," Said the rounded man, red cheeks puffing out, as he smiled excitedly at him. The greying hair at his temples was slicked back, nevertheless, he ran a hand against it to flatten it. "I understand you are searching for family members that might have been involved in the last war?"

Harry shrugged, "Well, any family members would be nice. I grew up an orphan, you know."

 _Of course he knows,_ Harry berated himself. The man smiled sadly, and clapped his hands together. "No child should grow up without his parents," He said and pointed towards a picture on his desk depicting a family of four; a thin blonde woman, two straw-haired children and himself, "Should we get on, then?!"

Harry smiled at the picture, nodding along, agreeing completely with the man's philosophy.

"Well, then, it's a simple matter really. It's only a spell, you know. But I need a drop of your blood," Seeing Harry was about to say something to that, the man quickly continued, "Don't worry Mr Potter, we take our client confidentiality very seriously. Your blood will instantly be banished, and the single copy of the results will be yours to keep. Deal?"

Harry nodded once. The man cheerfully bounced up and down on his chair and grabbed an official looking piece of parchment. He tapped on two fields and then on a third one. "Sign here, and here and smear a little bit of blood on here. The enchanted parchment will do the rest of the work, ok Mr Potter?"

"Great. Thanks." Quickly, Harry did what was required of him and leaned backwards in his chair. "And now we wait?" He asked after a moment. The man nodded cheerfully (and Harry was suddenly reminded very strongly of Horace Slughorn), "And now we wait," he confirmed.

Several minutes were spent in silence and Harry let his eyes wander around the room, looking for any sort of entertainment. "Mr Potter! Mr Potter! It's happening!"

Instantly, Harry's eyes zeroed on the parchment; the previous text had disappeared and instead an invisible quill had started writing the words 'Harry James Potter' in an elaborate, cursive handwriting. And underneath his name the names of his grandparents appeared, and their parents' names, Harry's parents, and so on. "Names of dead people will appear in black, and those alive will be in red," the man explained, gazing at the quickly evolving family tree. Clearly searching for something to say he said: "It's a beautiful family tree!"

Harry pursed his lips. All he saw was a shitload of black; "All I see is a lot of dead."

The man cleared his throat uncomfortably, before exclaiming out loud when the parchment revealed two names in red. One was _Draco Malfoy_ and the other was someone named _Chuck Shurley._ Harry raised an eyebrow and glanced up at Connor Grant, "Chuck Shurley? Does this thing show you how he's related to me?"

Mr Grant leaned back into his chair and nodded, "Just tap the name, and all the details will appear." Harry did so, and moments later gasped in surprise when the details webbed out - a line connected itself to James Potter and a woman named 'Eve Shurley' and underneath, Chuck Shurley's name and his age appeared. ***2(A/N)**

 _Chuck Shurley_

 _29 Years old_

 _Relation to H.J.P. - Half-Brother_

 _Son of James Potter and Eve Shurley_

And under that; an address.

Harry's mouth was dry as he stared a the text that had appeared in front of him. Seeing that Mr Grant had leaned forward to see what had surprised him so, Harry quickly folded the paper and slipped it into his inner cloak pocket, then he stood up. Hurriedly shaking the other man's hand, Harry thanked him, and stumbled out of his office breathing heavily, shock overcoming his very being.

…

Later that night, Harry sat in Grimmauld Place's mahogany study. He was currently sitting in the large winged armchair and was staring at the dancing flames in the fireplace, wondering how it had all happened.

How had Chuck happened? He was only perhaps a year older than Harry himself, so that meant that James Potter must have gotten this Eve Shurley pregnant just months after he had graduated, because Harry knew that his parents had been married within a year of their graduation. But how?

Remus and Sirius had told him that his parents had come together in their seventh year? Had they been exploring other areas, other partners? Or had James Potter cheated on Harry's mother? Questions swam in Harry's head, each question making four more sprout forth. Reaching into his robe pocket (he hadn't changed out of it yet, as he hadn't been psychologically able to do much today), he pulled out the parchment with his family tree, and examined the names on there.

It was sad really, how few people connected to him were alive. His eyes, though seemed to have a life of their own, as they kept zeroing back on Chuck Shurley's name and more precisely; his address.

So Chuck was an American. That meant that Harry would have to visit America to meet him. But _did_ he want to meet him? He'd spent the last ten years a recluse, avoiding everyone and everything. Was he ready to slip back into society so readily? He'd spent roughly ten years in Grimmauld Place, intermittently leaving the house for a walk or a jog, but he hadn't had a proper conversation with anyone for long time.

Hermione and Ron came by sometimes, but their lives were getting increasingly more interesting and their friendship with Harry less rewarding. He was a burden to them. Sure, he, being the Man-Who-Vanquished-Him, was an excellent trick to have up one's sleeve and perfect to forward one's career, but it got to the point that Hermione and Ron had their own friends who were couples. A single, lonely, anxious man didn't fit into that life.

So could he? Could he just leave everything behind - for a while at least? And see whether Chuck Shurley would accept him? Maybe even talk to him about his own childhood? Setting down the tumbler filled with the amber liquid, Harry came to a decision; he would go to America.

…

The Ministry of Magic in America was much more modern than the one in Britain. Sophisticated, and up to date. Harry had decided to take the muggle way - aeroplane - to sort out his thoughts and maybe even to slip by the intrusive government (for governments are always intrusive), but the moment he landed in the airport, his magical presence (electromagnetic energy) was detected, and agents were dispatched - or so said Agent Farnham.

Said Agent picked him up right after passport control and took him to a separate office which Harry sensed was warded by magic, albeit with magic and runes more primitive than those used in England. Agent Farnham proceeded to express her thanks for stopping a magical world war (she explained that America would have gotten involved if Voldemort had become an international threat; that is to say, if England had fallen), and then asked him a few questions about his visit in the United States. ***3** **(A/N)**

Harry's answers were short, succinct and to the point. He hadn't had much human interaction in the past ten years, and it was proving to be a bit hard to practice human interaction again. Finally, after an hour or two (during which Harry's magical suitcase was searched) of questions, Harry finally left the airport, with a pamphlet in hand discussing the chaotic magic in the land, types of magical creatures found in the North American region and what to do if attacked by one such creature.

He spent the night in a motel just out of Washington, wondering how he should approach Chuck. Just suddenly appearing on his doorstep was… exactly that, sudden. How would Chuck take the news that he had a younger half-brother? What would he say. Sighing, Harry rolled over and turned his cushion over, attempting to fall asleep. His nerves kept him up, and anxiety suddenly seemed much closer than usual.

…

Harry slowly let his rented car - an old 1969 _Opel_ he'd gotten for a cheap price - come to a stop in front of the house designated to the address he'd found on the parchment. He'd somehow thought that he'd done the hardest part already. He'd slipped out of England, managed to find a motel and pay with muggle money. He'd also managed to drive his rented car on the wrong side of the road… but he hadn't expected that the hardest step would actually be stepping out of said car and walking up to the front door.

He pulled the parking break and gently pushed the door open. One house over, he could see a woman eagerly peaking over the bushes that she seemed to be cutting (though curiously, no leaves were to be found on the ground) and was most probably collecting information to later discuss with her friends.

Harry walked up to the front door and noticed that the light in the hallway was on. So, Chuck was home. Then, hesitantly, he raised a hand and knocked on the door. From within, Harry heard a groan of annoyance and seconds later, the door swung open to reveal a man - slightly shorter than Harry - wearing a morning robe, boxer shorts with little cartoon depictions wings on them and a red and gold t-shirt with a round, white circle in the middle. His hair was disheveled as though he had just woken up, and he was unshaven. ***4** **(A/N)**

Despite everything, Harry chuckled - Chuck (if this was Chuck) looked almost as miserable as he himself felt. The man took one glance at him and groaned. Harry was wearing a muggle shirt with a cartoon depiction of a werewolf and khaki trousers, and looking around, said wizard found nothing to be grown-worthy.

"You're one of the fans aren't you. How did you find my house? Did Becky tell you? Or the Winchesters. Ohhh, I bet it was the Winchesters."

Harry blinked as the questions were shot at him in rapid succession. The man seemed to be almost panicking. Did he have anxiety? "…Winchesters?… Wait - fans?"

The man stared at him for a moment, then his eyes narrowed slightly, "You're not a fan?"

"A fan of what?"

"Supernatural?" Seeing Harry's continued confused expression, he elaborated, "I'm a writer. I wrote these books called Supernatural. Fans keep trying to track me down - most of them just want to bitch about the books. But," he shrugged, "Haters gonna hate."

Harry continued blinking at him, then cleared his throat and offered his hand. "My name is Harry Potter. Are you… uh… Chuck Shurley?"

The man hesitated, and after a moment, took Harry's hand, smiling weakly as he did so. "Nice to meet you. Uh not to sound rude or anything, but why are you here?"

Harry glanced at the lady next door who was pretending to trim her bushes but she had angled her head so as to be able to hear what they were saying.

"Can I maybe come inside? I don't think this is a matter that can be discussed in the open like this."Chuck shrugged and took a step back, letting Harry into the house.

Almost instantly, the stench of alcohol assaulted Harry's nose and he looked around, searching for the offending items. To his shock, he found that the living room - for that was where Chuck had led him - was littered with bottles covering most of the ratty furniture. The only modern piece of technology was a computer standing on a desk in the corner of the room. Most probably the place where Chuck wrote his books.

"Drink?" Chuck asked, gesturing to the fridge he'd just opened. Harry shook his head but Chuck grabbed two bottles of beer anyway and set one down on the coffee table in the living room. He then sat down on one of the sofas. Harry copied him and sat down on the other one, directly across him. Chuck leaned back into his worn sofa and popped the beer bottle open. "So, uh, you wanted to talk to me, Mr Potter-"

"Harry's fine. You can call me Harry." Chuck nodded once to show that he understood and Harry's lips tilted upwards in thanks.

"Uh, the Headmaster of my school took ages to get to the point and I remember hating that, so I'll be blunt. My name is Harry James Potter and I was born in England, but I became an orphan at one when my parents were brutally murdered; recently, I went to the… War Office, and searched for any records of other family members. I only found two living relatives. I hate one of them, and well… the other is you."

Chuck had leaned forward by the end of Harry's short speech. He had set his beer bottle back on the coffee table and had clasped his hands together. He was staring at Harry in shock.

"Really? Uh, do you know how? I mean, I grew up an orphan too, as a kid I jumped between foster homes. I never knew my parents. It'd be awesome to find more of my family."

"Well… this will probably come as a shock to you, but we're brothers-" Seeing Chuck's shocked facial expression, Harry corrected himself, "Well, half-brothers. We share the same dad - James Potter."

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 **Thank you for reading!**

 **Next update: Next week, Saturday.**

 ***1: Munch is actually real. You can check him out on the Harry Potter wikia**

 ***2: Eve Shurley is a reference to Adam and Eve who were the 'first' humans.**

 ***3: Agent Farnham is a reference to the series Fringe... It's an awesome show - kind of like the x-files but cooler.**

 ***4: The T-Shirt is a reference to the Iron Man franchise, and the boxer shorts are a reference to Chuck being God. XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for reading the first chapter! I was really happy that people seemed to take to it! Also, thank you for your encouraging reviews! As promised, chapter 2: (chapter 3: next Saturday!)**

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Chuck sat utterly still for a moment and Harry actually became concerned for him, but then he let out a shuddering breath and smiled genially at Harry. "I always wanted a brother," He confessed quietly. Harry let out his own breath of relief.

"Yeah, I guess I did too."

"So, uh, not to be rude or anything, but do you have-"

"Proof? Don't worry. I would be just as skeptical in your position." Harry reached into the backpack he'd brought with him, and pulled out a manila folder. He pulled three birth certificates out of it. One was his own, the other was his father's and the last one was Chuck's that he'd been allowed to photocopy.

"Well, damn. I guess that's pretty conclusive," Chuck said with a little smile. Looking at the dates, his smile widened, "And I'm the older one."

Harry rolled his eyes, "No shit, Sherlock."

"Aw, come on - have a beer!" Chuck tossed him the second bottle of beer, "We have to celebrate!"

Harry gave him a smile - which was more than most people got - and deciding one bottle wouldn't hurt, he propped off the lid and raised his bottle into the air as though for a toast; "To family!" Chuck smiled and copied the motion, "To family."

…

After hearing from Harry that he was staying in a small motel a few miles away, Chuck offered Harry to stay at his house, for apparently he had enough rooms. Feeling as though he would be imposing, Harry declined, but Chuck didn't take no for an answer and the rest was, as they say, history.

By now, Harry had spent three months at Chuck's. At some point, Chuck had asked him if he wanted to move in, and with a shrug, Harry had agreed, for they wanted to get to know each other better. Of course, Harry's single condition was that Chuck toned down the drinking, and that they cleaned up the living room, to make it habitable again - well at least as habitable as two men could make one house.

And now, three months on, instead of being littered with booze, the living room was littered with pizza boxes and old boxes from Chinese takeout food. Harry cooked every now and again, but it reminded him too much of his time with the Dursleys; so pizza and takeout it was.

Currently, the brothers were sitting in one of the large sofas and facing the large telly Harry had recently purchased - they were watching the Super Bowl while Chuck tried to explain (and was failing to do so) how American football worked. They both sat there, watching a game in companionable silence. Both disliked this sort of sport, and they didn't support either team, but watching it together was strangely comforting for them both.

Harry was oddly happy about this arrangement; he felt oddly calm, something that he hadn't felt for many years - actually, never. Harry had just turned his head to offer Chuck some popcorn from his own box, when in that precise moment, said man let out a cry of pain, and started clawing at his his forehead.

For a moment, Harry was frozen and didn't know what to do, then, suddenly, he had apparated them to Chuck's bedroom and had laid the man down on the bed. Apparating down to the kitchen, Harry grabbed and icepack and then disapparated. By the time Harry had come back, Chuck had calmed, and was laying askew on the bed. His legs hung off the side; his face had formed a grimace, and under his eyelids, Harry could see that his eyes were moving rapidly.

What the hell was going on?

Pressing the icepack to Chuck's hot forehead, Harry decided that he trusted a doctor's expertise more than his own and reached for the phone on the nightstand. But as he was reaching forward, another hand - Chuck's - grabbed his wrist. Harry's head swivelled back and his gaze met Chuck's.

The man's blue eyes were wide and fearful. And his lip was bleeding where he'd most likely bit down on.

"Dude, what the hell was that?" Harry asked as he watched Chuck calm down. Beads of sweat started rolling down his forehead, and Harry put the icepack back on it. But Chuck was too tired to answer any questions. He squeezed Harry's hand and muttered: "Prophet… no hospital…" And then promptly fell asleep.

.

Chuck slept for a whole day; Harry spent that day worrying about his brother and sitting at the man's desk, reading his books (which weren't that good to be honest, but still interesting. He quite liked Castiel). It was a dull Monday morning (best day of the week to wake up, Harry remarked ironically to himself), when Chuck finally graced him with his presence. He proceeded to stumble down the stairs, looking much like the first time Harry had ever seen him.

"Chuck! Oh my God, are you alright? What the hell was that?" ***1**

"I need an aspirin ASAP," Chuck managed to croak out. Realising, that Chuck needed to have some little bit of stability before he could answer some questions, Harry fetched him a glass of water and an aspirin.

"Are you reading my stories?" Chuck asked, gesturing at the computer Harry had been sitting had. Harry blushed slightly, realising he'd been caught red-handed, and he nodded. "Yeah, I like the plot, lots of drama."

Chuck gestured at the kitchen chair and Harry sat down. Chuck stared at him for a moment, as though wondering how trustworthy he was, then sat down too, nursing a cup of coffee Harry put in front of him.

"Look, Harry, I'll tell you everything. As my brother, you have the right to know about shit that's happened to me. Just don't freak out or anything, by the way, I'm not crazy. Seriously. I know a crazy person would probably say the same thing, but I really am sane. Really, truly-"

"-Chuck," Harry muttered, interrupting his ramble. Harry gave him an encouraging smile and nodded at the cup of coffee indicating that the man should drink.

Chuck took a preparatory deep breath and started; "Ok, basically, the facts are: God is real - demons are real, angels are real, monsters are real, everything in the bible is pretty much real. And prophets are real."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but found that he couldn't come up with any words. Ok, monsters he knew; Hell, he'd had a 'care of magical creatures' class at school. But angels? Like of _God_? And demons? He'd thought that nothing would surprise him again - not after Hagrid had 'crashed the party', so to speak, and had told him 'Yer a wizard, Harry'. But now, here he was, finding out that Christianity and monsters was actually true.

Wizards as a rule didn't believe in the Muggle God, they prayed - if they prayed - to pagan Gods, and most of the time to Merlin - who was believed to be the First Wizard and was as such a parallel to Jesus Christ. And his maker was the parallel to God; they called him the ' _In Between_ '. The _In Between_ was presented as a pagan God who had given away his power to create wizards-

"-And I'm a prophet." Harry's train of thought was interrupted by Chuck's continued ramble, "I know it sounds weird and shit. But it's true. Everything you read in the books - that's all true. I didn't come up with any of it. Somehow, my visions seem to be centred on the Winchester guys, Sam and Dean, and their angel-friend Castiel. Usually I get a headache or something, and it gets steadily worse, till I sort of pass out and have a vision. Usually it hurts less cause I'm drunk."

Chuck's expression was earnest. His eyes were wide and pleading, pleading for Harry to believe him. Harry stood up and grabbed a cup from the sink and a tea bag. He proceeded to make himself a very British cup of tea, while he tried to recycle everything Chuck had just told him.

Could it be real? If wizards existed - couldn't God? Couldn't the angels - and demons?

Seeing that his tea was done cooking, Harry pulled out the tea bag and turned around, only to see that Chuck hadn't moved. He was staring at the cup of coffee, deep in thought. He looked almost graceful; the light streamed through the windows above the kitchenette and struck his face with beautiful sunlight, creating a sort of halo of light around the man.

Harry moved slowly, so as not to startle Chuck and sat down next to him. He put a hand on Chuck's shoulder to take him out of whatever trance he'd fallen into and smiled when Chuck's hesitant stare met his. "I believe you, dude. You're writing style is _waaay_ too biblical for you not to be a prophet." Harry chuckled, "Besides, I've heard quite a lot of crazy shit throughout my life. Believe me, this is not the weirdest thing I've heard."

…

It became a routine from then on; whenever Chuck had a vision (and they were happening almost three times a month now), he would have a sort of mini-seizure, and Harry would calm him down, apparate him to his room and get an icepack. Chuck never asked how Harry always managed to get him upstairs so quickly, and Harry never mentioned it. Then Chuck, would write the vision up, and Harry would proof read it, just for fun. He'd actually found himself enjoying reading about the Winchesters' life more and more.

Currently, the Winchester's had been travelling around the country, closing cases and looking for ways to mow Amara down; and according to Chuck, Lucifer was parading around in Castiel's own meat-suit, while Sam had just recently avoided a death by werewolf. And the Darkness - apparently God's sister - was parading around the world (America mostly), destroying whole towns with some sort of grey fog that forced people to either kill or simply die.

Chuck had met them on a few occasions and trusted them enough to give Harry their phone numbers so that if there was some sort of supernatural emergency, and Chuck wasn't around to help, Harry could call them for help, though according to Chuck the brothers thought that he was dead. So, if there ever was an emergency, they'd be the first to know that Chuck was alive.

It was in fact, a late December morning - Harry had been living at Chuck's for almost half a year by now - when Harry stumbled downstairs into the living room only to find Chuck already sitting there, eating Captain Crunch cereal, leaning over a leather bound book. A leather bound book Harry had only recently been reading and had thought he'd placed under the floorboards under his bed in his room. ***2**

"Interesting reading material you have there Harry. Witchcraft?" Chuck said in a falsely light tone. Harry winced. He'd known that the truth would eventually come out.

"Look, dude. You've gotta listen for a moment-"

"Harry, I thought after you read my books, you'd realise how dangerous deals with demons are. Who'd you make a deal with? Harry! Tell me!" By now, Chuck was working himself into a panic attack and Harry placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, but the man only swatted it to the side.

Harry bit his lip uncertainly as Chuck continued to rant.

"… And you think that I've never felt you transporting me to my room the way you do! Of course I notice shit like that. Any normal person notices shit like that! And-"

"-Chuck! Shut the hell up!" Harry roared at him, and for a moment, Chuck stared at him with wide eyes, and a scared expression, before his face turned emotionless and he took several steps back. Chuck suddenly looked like a younger brother finding out that his big brother, the person he idolised, wasn't all he'd thought he'd be.

"You better have a good explanation, Harry."

Harry nodded earnestly, "Yeah. It's pretty good."

And he told Chuck everything. He told him his childhood, the emotional abuse he'd experienced at the Dursleys's house, the neglect, and then the acceptance, and the fame at Hogwarts. Then his school years, and finally the final battle against Voldemort. Then the ten years he'd spent a recluse, and then finding out about Chuck, and being ecstatic.

"…So what, you're saying, that there's this whole society of wizards and witches that are naturally born with magic and stuff? No deals with the devil?"

Harry shook his head slowly, "Nope. Here, I'll give you a demonstration. My wand - yes we have wands (Chuck's eyes had widened at that) - is upstairs, but this is a fairly simple thing to do, so I can do it wandlessly:" Harry concentrated on his cup of tea and the spoon he'd used to put the honey in, and as he did, he started to wrigge his fingers, and the spoon started move in gradual circles. Chuck watched the process with fascination, before he looked up at Harry and started laughing. Laughing so hard that he started tearing up and clutching his stomach.

"You know… we're so… fucked up," He managed to cough out between bursts of laughter, "You're an… accident prone magician… and I'm a… fucking prophet of the…Lord-" This time, Harry joined him in his laughter, because frankly, for fate and destiny to make them both so fucked up in their own special way was certainly ridiculous and laugh-worthy.

…

Christmas came and went and they exchanged presents. Harry got Chuck a new morning robe, so that Chuck didn't have to wear that ratty old thing, and Harry in turn received a photo album from the last six and a half months of them living together which had moved Harry considerably as it had been the first present he had ever received from a family member - from a brother. Chuck had then accused him (in good humour) of being menopausal and emotional.

On New Years' Eve they went to a paint ball alley and got paired up with other singles; they ended up loosing pretty badly, and came home pretty bruised, but happy and covered in paint of all of the colours of a rainbow.

As February rolled in, Chuck started complaining about headaches and odd memory lapses that made him feel like an alcoholic again. Harry tried to comfort him and told him that it was probably just something to do with the stress of seeing so many visions in the last few months, but he was worried. He'd noticed that in the last two or so months, Chuck had started disappearing at random points during the day, only to suddenly reappear later, without the knowledge that he'd just spent half the day somewhere. He hadn't mentioned it to Chuck just yet, as he didn't want to worry him, nevertheless, he kept an eye on his half-brother.

It was during the middle of February that the 'disaster' happened.

Harry had been in the living room, reading a book about angels he'd managed to acquire from a contact, when suddenly he'd heard a loud whooshing sound of wings fluttering and had turned to see a thin, caucasian man with dark hair and an expressionless face dressed in a formal grey suit.

The man, spotting him had smirked and muttered something about humans being apes and had pointed a finger at him. Seconds later, Harry lay sprawled on the ground, seemingly dead. And when Harry awoke (with a loud gasping breath as though he hadn't breathed for years), Chuck was nowhere to be found.

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 **So... thanks for reading that! I'd be very glad if you told me what you thought - the Christmas presents? The references to God etc?**

 ***1: these references are so much fun to write.**

 ***2: Captain Crunch: I'm not American so I have absolutely no idea what life in the US is like, so I just typed 'favourite american breakfast' into google and that came up, so... yeah.**

 **Anonymous reviews:**

 **Guest: Thank you!**

 **Guest2: Glad you liked it!**

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Preview Chapter 3:

 _Joshua smiled knowingly and raised a hand as though to press his index and middle finger against Chuck's head and suddenly the latter understood. Joshua thought he was God. Chuck started laughing, and Joshua's advancing hand stopped moving and hovered in the air uncertainly._

 _Chuck clutched his stomach as his laughter started to get violent; "You… think… I'm God! A… failed writer. Oh… Becky would love… to hear this!"_


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok, so this is chapter 3. I have just finished writing chapter 5 and shiiiit, I might have to change the genre of this story... If you guys decide to stay on the ride, you're in for a helluva emotional rollercoaster. Anyway, enjoy! Hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

"Sammy!" Dean shouted at the top of his lungs; the sound of his voice echoed down the narrow hallways of the bunker, reverberating on every wall. Ricocheting like a bullet would. "Sammy?!" Dean shouted again as he passed another hallway.

Somewhere to his right, he heard Sam shouting 'yeah' and decided to check the main hub. Sam was sitting at one of the research tables, typing away at his laptop. He had opened a can of pop and was sipping at it. ***1**

"Dude, didn't you hear me?"

Sam mumbled something under his breath and Dean rolled his eyes. Once a nerd, always a nerd. Typing something else into his computer, Sammy's eyes widened and he spun his laptop around so that it was facing Dean.

"It's a long shot, but I think I've found something - might be Amara. Guy commits suicide in Hope Springs, Idaho, but according to the reports, no one knows why. He was a perfectly happy guy. Married, 2.5 kids, loved his family. And then," Sam snapped his fingers, "Snap."

Dean frowned and said, "So what, demon possession?"

Sammy shrugged, "My guess is he's soulless."

"Well, it's not much," he said slowly, then shrugged, "But given what we've got, its more than we had a day ago."

He was about to start making his way to the kitchen, when his phone rang. Seeing an unknown number, he put it on speaker, so that Sam could listen in.

"Yeah? Dean here."

"Dean Winchester? The Dean Winchester?" The voice sounded British, and panicked. Dean exchanged a glance with his brother who shrugged, but had stood up so that he could hear what the person on the other side was saying.

"Yeah, who's callin'?"

"Potter, Harry Potter. Chuck told me that I should call you, should there be an emergency-"

"Dude, take it easy! Chuck? You mean Chuck Shurley? You're a friend of his? Why isn't he calling if it's an emergency?"

"No, no - he's my brother!" Sam and Dean exchanged a surprised glance - they hadn't known that Chuck had a brother. He'd always seemed lonely.

"And he's been kidnapped! Some dude with freaking wings knocked me out and when I woke up, Chuck was gone. My brother told me that in an emergency I should call you guys. Guessing that was an angel? Oh, fuck, _fuck_ , _FUCK_!"

"Breathe!" Dean commanded, hearing the panic attack that was coming on. "Get a paper bag or something. Just breathe! Are you at Chuck's house?" There was a muffled yes and the Winchesters realised that the guy must have done exactly what Dean had told him to do.

"Ok, we're on our way. Don't move, and don't get into trouble."

…

"I don't get it." Sammy said out of the blue. It was raining hard on the windshield, and the harsh sound of raining almost drowned him out.

"What don't you get?"

"The guy - Harry Potter - said he saw 'the guy's wings', I thought only angels could see other angel's wings."

"Sammy, his bother is a prophet. Is it too far a stretch to think that maybe he's got some special mojo too?"

"I don't know, Dean. It's just we've never heard of Chuck's brother," Sam pretended to mockingly think it over, "-oh right, maybe 'cause Chuck is supposed to be dead!"

Dean laughed cynically, "I would have thought that you of all people would be used to people coming back from the dead. We've died a few times, Sammy."

…

Slowly, ever so slowly, Chuck regained awareness. The first thing he noticed was the wonderful smell of nature that wafted through the air and seeped through the very essence of everything. Next, he felt the lush grass beneath his fingers, and he took a deep sigh of contentment as his fingers curled around said grass.

After that, the rest of his senses came crushing down like a waterfall of sensations. His hearing came back, and suddenly he was hearing beautiful symphonies being sung by birds chirping in the trees. And finally, his eyes fluttered open and he gasped at the pure beauty of the garden he now lay in.

It was paradise. Literally. Like literally, _literally_.

He could feel it; he _knew_ all of a sudden, that is was paradise. What else could it be? Such beauty could have never been conceived on Earth. He stood up and gazed around himself, mouth agape. This had to be a work of God. This led him to another train of thought. If he was in Paradise - did that mean he was dead? Did that mean he had ended up in heaven?

"You are not dead." Said a raspy voice from behind him and Chuck swung around to meet a middle-aged dark-skinned man. He was smiling warmly at Chuck, much like a son does when he meets his father after a very long time. Chuck blinked rapidly.

"I'm in Heaven's Garden, right?" The man nodded once, and Chuck continued, "And you're Joshua, right? I remember having a vision about you meeting Sam and Dean." Joshua was smiling widely by now and he was still nodding.

"Welcome home, f-Chuck."

Chuck noticed the slip of the tongue, but decided to ignore him; after all he had more pressing questions to deal with right now. "So, why am I here if I'm not dead?"

"Because God commanded it," Joshua said with finality. Chuck took a step backwards in shock.

"God wants me dead?" He asked, slightly pessimistically.

"God wants Chuck dead." Joshua said shortly, and Chuck thew his hands into the air in exasperation.

"Dude, I don't know if this got lost in translation, but _my name is Chuck_! Killing Chuck sorta means killing me!"

Joshua put a calming hand on his shoulder and instantly, Chuck felt warmth reach every corner of his soul; as though someone had given him a weaker version of a tranquilliser. Seeing Joshua wasn't going to answer that question, Chuck asked the next one that he'd been thinking about the moment he appeared here; "And what about Harry? Where is he? Is he alright?"

Joshua seemed to think about it for a moment, and he smiled again, this time knowingly, "Harry Potter has called the Winchester's, they are taking him back to their Men of Letters Base to keep him safe."

Chuck's shoulders sagged in relief, "Thank God," he muttered, then he turned back to Joshua, "So what now, what does God want me to do? Am I to stay here?"

Joshua took a deep breath and guided Chuck to a bench (that had mysteriously appeared for seconds ago, when Chuck had looked around, he hadn't seen anything of the sort). "A millennia ago, God lost faith in humanity. He was disappointed in them; for they had stopped believing in Him, and they had become weak, they easily succumbed to hedonism and their demons.

"And God left. He let himself fall in to the reincarnation cycle, and lived many lives. In some of those lives, He would gain minimal awareness and He would appear before me. He talked to me for hours, you see, He was lonely. He _is_ lonely. Every time our conversation came to an end, God would go back to Earth and would forget everything, for He wanted to continue that life without disappointments."

Chuck was staring at Joshua with wonder by then. So God was on Earth? God was actually on Earth - he had to get back to Sam and Dean and tell them that. Maybe they would be able to find him and convince him to help with the Darkness!

"He told me, before the first time he left, that when the time was right, and when the world was in danger, when the Winchesters couldn't save the world, that I would have to help him remember." Joshua's final words echoed in Chuck's mind for a moment as though having a deja vu from a past life.

Chuck chuckled, "So why are you telling me this? Where do I come in? Why would God want me dead - what would the use of that be be?"

Joshua smiled knowingly and raised a hand as though to press his index and middle finger against Chuck's head and suddenly the latter _understood._ Joshua thought _he_ was God. Chuck started laughing, and Joshua's advancing hand stopped moving and hovered in the air uncertainly.

Chuck clutched his stomach as his laughter started to get violent; "You… think… I'm God! A… failed writer. Oh… Becky would love… to hear this!"

Joshua stared at him uncertainly and Chuck moved away from him, sliding down to the other end of the bench. The angel's hand dropped, and when Chuck saw, that his expression was dead serious, his laughter abruptly melt away.

"Wait… you actually believe this crap? You actually believe that I am God. Joshua, I grew up as a human, I can get hurt, and hell - I have a brother. Explain _that_ to me!"

Joshua looked unsure for the first time: "I am unsure how that happened. You engineered Your rebirths so that You wouldn't have siblings You'd have to leave when the time came for You to become God again."

"I cannot awaken your true self without you wanting it," Joshua said slowly, before standing up very suddenly. "I shall send You to heaven to explore, when the time is right for You to accept Yourself, you will find Heaven's Garden by yourself."

And then Chuck for the second time in the last 24 hours, fell into the dark abyss that was unconsciousness.

…

The moment the Chevrolet Impala rolled up to the large suburban house, Sam and Dean were out like bullets. Both of them had several guns hidden in their sleeves, trousers, shoes etc. and a few knives somewhere in between. Seeing that the light was on in the kitchen, Dean pulled out a gun. He could see a neighbour peeking at them through a curtain, and he moved so that his body impeded her from seeing the gun. Dean gestured to his brother to do the same and then he rang the doorbell.

Almost seconds later, the door opened a crack to reveal one half of a face; a bright green eye and a thin face. The eye widened in surprise, before he closed the door and they heard some rustling - he was probably unlocking the security chain. Moments later, the man threw the door open, then gestured them to move their arses and then proceeded to slam the door shut behind them.

The living room was different than it had been before, Dean decided as he gazed around, the bottles were gone, and it was a little more… liveable. Someone had bought a flatscreen TV which was currently turned off, but from his vantage point, Dean could see a few popcorn boxes lying about. Eyes swinging back to meet the man's, Dean raised his gun again. Sam copied his actions.

"You Harry Potter?"

"Um… yeah," Potter said slowly, curiously staring at the guns, as though they were some sort of foreign weapon - Cas stared at them like that a lot.

"Who the hell are you? Why did we only just find out that you're Chuck's brother? He told us he grew up in foster homes and didn't have any family." Sam's tone was accusing as he said; "What have you done to him?!"

Potter rolled his eyes. "Look, I just found out about him a few months ago and ended up visiting him, we've been living together ever since. I grew up an orphan and wanted to meet more of my family. He's my half-brother. But can we _please_ get back to the reason I called you here?" His tone was polite, but Dean could hear the urgency behind it.

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance. They knew what it was like to be afraid for your brother and both lowered their weapons. "We still have to do some tests, you know, just so that we know that you're not some sort of demon or corporeal manifestation of a spirit or something," Sam said after a moment of silence.

Dean shot him a look that said ' _corporeal' - really?_ Potter gave them a resignated sigh, before rolling up the sleeve of his long sleeved polo shirt. Sammy did all of the tests - silver knife, copper knife, iron, salt water, holy water - the standard tests. And Potter passed them all; for all intents and purposes, he was human.

"So why don't you tell us what happened, Harry?"

By now they were in the kitchen. Sam had tried to make a cup of tea that Harry had sipped once and then set aside, mumbling something about Americans and their inability to make tea. The two brothers stood, leaning against the kitchen counter. Dean's arms were crossed as he stared at Harry distrustfully.

"Well I was reading a book, on uh, well, that's not important right now, and suddenly this dude in a grey suit and two wings about as large as this house. He pointed a finger at me, and I was out, when I woke up, I felt stiff and terrible, like I'd been in a coma for a week, and looked for Chuck, but he was gone. I've been trying to reach him by phone, but it keeps telling me that 'he's out of service'."

"So angel. Right. So we're back to kidnapping prophets." Dean said, rubbing his face with the balls of his hands. "And I thought we had enough of Prophet-drama with Kevin."

Sam pursed his lips. "Well, that is if he is a prophet. Remember Cas told us that only one prophet can be activated at one moment in time? Well, Chuck should have been dead when Kevin was translating the tablets," Sam paused in his rant, "Oh, yeah, and Ernie here can see angels. Which apparently, no one should be able to do without burning their eyes out." ***2**

"Hey! I resent that. If anyone's Ernie then it's Chuck. Bert's the good-looking one!" Harry said. Then taking a deep breath, he composed himself; "Look, Sam I know you're sceptical, but I am honestly human. I grew up in the suburbs in Surrey, England, went to a _normal_ school (as normal as schools can be) and lived a more or less normal life. I don't know how I saw his wings, I just did. Now, _can we please get back to looking for my brother_?"

"We've got to take him to the bunker." Dean said turning to Sam who took an unhappy sigh. "Keep him safe. At least _that_ is warded against angels. What if another one decides to kidnap him too - or kill him?" Sam looked unhappy about it, but seemed to agree.

"Uhm, excuse me but did you said _bunker_?"

…

Harry was a quiet person. He sat there, at the back of the car, hugging his backpack which he'd filled with things, and stared out the window the entire time. His face was relaxed, but every now and then, when Dean looked into the review mirror, he could see a worried expression dancing in his eyes.

When they arrived at the bunker, Harry took everything in with extreme curiosity. He examined the technology as though he'd never seen any of it before, and he was very cautious with Sam's computer when the large man gave it to him to contact somebody if he wanted to. It was as though he'd grown up and lived most of his adult life with the absence of modern technology.

They quickly found out, that Harry was a book nerd like Sam, but most of the books he read were about magic, or spells; he seemed to find most of them quite gruesome, because he wrinkled his nose at most of them. Sam even swore to Dean once, that he'd seen Harry reading an _E.L. James_ book that they _most_ definitively didn't own themselves and hadn't seen Harry pack when he'd left Chucks house a few weeks ago.

Harry seemed like a simple man; he ate oatmeal for breakfast and didn't eat anything till dinner, when he usually ate whatever take out food Sam and Dean brought back home. He read most of the day, and sometimes even noted down some things in a notebook. Every now and then, he would come to Sam or Dean with a question about some sort of creature or animal.

For the most part, he hadn't changed their every day life. That was, until the incident in April.

Dean had, as usual woken up during the early morning to the sound of his alarm clock, and had forced him to climb out of bed, and go to the kitchen to see if there was any leftover takeout from the night before. If not, he'd have to go get some donuts at the bakery in town.

He found Harry already sitting in the library, for once eating Captain Crunch cereal, he was engrossed in a book and barely even registered Dean until said man sat down in front of him. Dean quickly realised how terrible Harry looked; he had large bags under his eyes, and his eyes were bloodshot. His hair was even more disheveled than usual, and the murky-yellow t-shirt was crumpled as though he'd been turning in bed all night.

"You alright, Harry?"

Harry's eyes slowly met his, and Dean suddenly realised the terror behind them. Nightmares.

Harry sighed tiredly, "Nightmares." He explained and rubbed his temple.

"Wanna talk about it?" Dean asked uncertainly, sincerely hoping that Harry would say no. Sam was better with all that emotional crap.

Harry sighed deeply, "I've been having visions. I don't know why, it's been ages since I had any - the last ones were about ten years ago. I've been having visions of terrible famine and wars, and deaths of _so many people_ and in all of those visions, I am unable to help those people." He closed his eyes in distress, and let the spoon drop back into the bowl. A few drops of milk landed on the table.

"And in one of those visions I think I saw God throwing Lucifer into Hell."

Dean swallowed heavily. Did this confirm Sam's theory that Harry was an angel? Or at least something as old as an angel… Harry could see their wings, and he could go a few days without eating. He sometimes disappeared for a few hours, and reappeared later saying he'd gotten lost in the bunker. And now… this? Was Sam right?

Dean tried to give him a comforting smile, but from the look Harry responded him with, Dean was sure it had looked more like a grimace. "Uh, it'll be ok, Harry. We'll beat the darkness, and we'll find Chuck, and then we'll find out what the hell is wrong with that noggin' of yours, yeah?"

Harry gave him a grateful smile, and then reached forward to grab his spoon and finish his soggy cereal, when he seemed to freeze and the smile vanished only to be replaced by a look of intense pain. Such pain, that it froze the vocal cords and disabled him from crying out. Instantly, Dean was by his side.

The other man toppled out of his seat and fell to the floor - Dean was almost certain he heard something crack (probably the arm he'd landed on). He jerked around, while Dean tried to hold him down.

"SAM!" Dean bellowed loudly, "GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!"

His brother must have been on his way to the library, because he arrived seconds later, only to freeze at the doorway when he saw the scene. Then without a word, he turned and vanished down the hallway, only to come sprinting back, with a syringe filled with an amber liquid.

"Drug-induced coma," Sam explained, jerking his head down at the syringe as he tried to hold down one of Harry's arms while he thrashed around. As soon as that one arm was more or less stable, Sam plunged the syringe into the most visible artery. Almost instantly, Harry's breathing evened out, and he stilled. He became limp and Sam slowly put down the arm he'd been holding. Sam and Dean both leaned backwards in relief.

"These two brothers are so fucked up," Sam finally said, tucking a few strands of hair behind his ear while he tried to calm his breathing.

* * *

 **So, thank you for reading this chapter...**

 ***1 I think Pop is Soda in the US?**

 ***2 Reference to Bert and Ernie...**

 **Anonymous reviews:**

 **Nono: thank you!**

 **Guest:** **Updates will be coming every week for the next two/three weeks.**

 **Preview for chp. 4:**

 _Dean stepped forwards, noticing that Harry's pallor was gone, and that his cheeks had become rosy once more, "God - Chuck - whatever your name is; what the hell is going on here?"_

 _Chuck closed his eyes and his lips tilted upwards in a content smile. A single tear made its way down is face and into his beard. "My brother;" he explained, "He's back."_


	4. Chapter 4

**So um... it's Saturday... and as promised... the new chapter!**

* * *

Heaven was a paradise of all of the most beautiful and gorgeous things Chuck had ever seen. Everything smelt great - even the hundreds of barbecues he walked by in different heavens (and he was a vegan). Every now and then, he would discover a new corridor, with new doors leading to new personal heavens.

From what he'd been able to gather from conversations between guards (angels) he'd managed to listen into, people weren't usually allowed to leave their personal heavens, but some had the ability to do so. Some managed to find that one hatch that allowed them to find the door out and those few people could sometimes pass undetected and enter other peoples' heavens.

It seemed Chuck was one of these people (he refused to believe that this was because he was the creator of all of this), because wherever he went, no angel seemed to see him, and no doors seemed locked to him.

And so it was, that he stumbled into hallway 'R45' and kept wandering down, until surprisingly, his eyes landed on a very familiar name: Robert Singer 1950 - 2012. Biting his lip, Chuck's hand settled on the doorknob. He hadn't ever met Bobby, but he'd written a lot about him, and he'd always thought that if they met, he'd like him. Gently, Chuck turned the doorknob and the door swung open silently, as if it had just been recently oiled.

Chuck looked around as he stepped into this heaven and smiled when he saw the reconstructed house he could remember burning in one of his visions. The walls lined with books, the large fireplace, the parchments laying on every flat surface; it was all there. But Bobby was nowhere to be found.

Deciding he could just as well explore the house, Chuck wandered around, going upstairs, then down to the panic room and finally noticing that Bobby wasn't anywhere in the house, Chuck opened the front door to reveal the junk yard and fields beyond that. In the distance, he could see a figure approaching the road, and instantly recognised the baseball hat, unzipped vest, and worn trousers. Bobby was home.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get into my heaven - I thought you weren't allowed to get into other people's heavens," Bobby said when he was near enough. His voice was gruff, just as Chuck remembered it from his visions.

He offered his hand and smiled excitedly, "My name's Chuck Shurely, I'm a prophet."

"Come again? Prophet?" Bobby ignored the hand and Chuck disappointedly let his drop.

"Uh, yeah, I have visions, and then write up the visions in form of science fiction novels. Uh, somehow, they're always focused on Dean and Sam's lives, and by extension yours - well when you were…" Chuck trailed off, realising suddenly that dead folk probably don't want to hear about their own lives and deaths.

Bobby rolled his eyes, and pushed past him into the house and Chuck only now realised that he was carrying a shopping bag in one of his hands. "No offence, sonny," Bobby called from the kitchen, "But death and crap like that doesn't really shock me anymore." Chuck closed the door behind himself and stuffed his hands into his sweatshirt.

"You've managed to escape your heaven?" Chuck asked him slowly. Bobby nodded and snorted.

"Yeah, happened a while ago, when Sam and Dean were in a bit of trouble. I've been figuring out creative ways to escape my heaven and visit old friends. Seriously, this sort of paradise is so outdated, I dunno why the angels want to keep us where we are when it's obvious that most of humanity just wants to be with their loved ones." He paused his monologue, and put a few cartons of milk into the fridge.

"So, what's your story, how'd you die? I guess you know what happened to me, being a prophet and all."

"Uh, well, I'm not really dead. I just turned up in heaven."

"Sonny, if you're in heaven, you're dead," Bobby said with a laugh and Chuck realised that heaven-Bobby was much looser and more relaxed than he had been in life.

"Yeah, well, apparently not me. I don't even have my own heaven. Um, an angel kidnapped me and brought me here, he told me that… well, I'm God and that I just have to… uh remember," Chuck finished sort of lamely and winced when he saw Bobby's incredulous expression. "Dude - that's what I thought. I can't be God. Joshua is just a little crazy I guess. A few millennia of loneliness will do that to you."

"Well, it doesn't really matter if you're God or not, from what I hear down the grapevine, the world is going to shit anyway. The Darkness, Amara - God's sister - is back and planning to end the world."

"But what if I'm God and I can stop it? I mean it would be my duty, right? Save my creations." Chuck asked in a small voice, collapsing on the sofa in the living room area. Bobby snorted, grabbed a beer bottle and sunk into an armchair. Chuck noticed that a supermodel magazine appeared on the coffee table (which Bobby quickly tossed out the open window, blushing).

"Sonny, at the end of the day, its your decision. I mean, if you're God, it's still your decision - Darkness or no Darkness - _you_ are the father of all. You can destroy and you can create. I guess its just your place to decide if you think humanity is worth the effort; if we have enough goodness to keep the badness at bay."

"Joshua kept saying that I was God. But I'm just a crappy writer, who used his visions to put bread on the table. I don't see how a person like me could be someone like God. I'm nothing special. Besides, I recently found out I have a biological brother - how is that possible, then? And if I were to become God again, I would loose him, wouldn't I?"

"Chuck - your name's Chuck right?" at Chuck's nod, Bobby continued, "Look, in my not-very-impressive 62 years I've never met anyone who wasn't important or special. Besides, you wouldn't loose your brother, 'cause even if you were to become God, if you are him, you wouldn't necessarily have to forget who Chuck was... even in life _Humans_ change, when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives - you've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be, so if you keep that in mind, if you become God again, and you don't forget yourself as Chuck, you won't forget your brother."

Chuck smiled as Bobby finished his little speech. So much wisdom in one little human. More wisdom than Chuck could ever imagine having. _This_ was being a good man. _This_ was what God was supposed to be, a wise man. He voiced his thoughts to Bobby who chuckled happily.

"Sonny, you couldn't be more wrong! Have you even _read_ the _Old Testament_? That wrathful, merciless Lord; that's the one you have to remember. Anyone can become the wise, kind Lord from the _New Testament._ With age, most people become that. But being _both_ at the same time; being the white swan and the black swan - now _that's_ being God."

"-But my brother? I could never bear him seeing me like that - lording over others… he's helped me up too many times for me to just force him down on his knees like that." Bobby sighed, exasperated.

"Boy, this brother of yours was born for a reason, if you're God you would have created your human image yourself and no detail would have been left out. This brother of yours has a use, you'll see - he might even turn out to be an angel that stuck with you." Bobby winked at him, "Or maybe you and Amara had another brother?"

.

When Chuck left Bobby's heaven, he felt considerably lighter. As he'd expected, Bobby turned out to be an incredibly kind soul. A kind soul that he hid with his harsh tone and shuttered eyes. He kept that in mind as he walked down those clinical, white hallways, looking at the name tags on the doors, trying to see if he recognised anyone else. He was just strolling down another passageway, when he saw a plaque reading 'Albus Dumbledore: 1881 - 1997'. Remembering that Harry had occasionally mentioned that name when he'd explained his magic and his life, Chuck decided he wanted to find out a little bit more of Harry's life.

Once he stepped through the door, Chuck found himself in a large castle and assumed this was Hogwarts. It was milling with students of all ages, and Chuck assumed that these were simply soulless images conjured to create Dumbledore's heaven. Wandering around, Chuck explored the castle, smiling every now and again when he saw things contradicting the very rules of science; independently moving staircases, moving paintings, a ghost or two, and students who kept on using magic in the corridors. But then again, Chuck mused, him being here and him being a Prophet already contradicted the laws of science.

As he walked down the hallways, taking in the place at which Harry had grown up, Chuck suddenly felt like something was calling out to him and he followed that pull until he was standing in front of a nondescript (well… nondescript for this castle) door. Gently, he opened it: the room within was empty, save for a single mirror standing right in the middle of it.

And then, Chuck noticed a small figure sitting right in front of the mirror - a little boy with glasses and a lighting bolt scar on his forehead. With a start, Chuck realised that this was a version of Harry. But what was a conjured image of Harry doing in Albus Dumbledore's heaven?

"That is the mirror of Erised. Desire spelt backwards." Chuck almost jumped in shock, when he noticed that a man - he assumed this was Albus Dumbledore himself - had appeared behind him. He was tall, almost as tall as Sam, and had a kind smile and twinkling blue eyes. "And that is young Harry, staring at his heart's desire: a family. He's always been rather lonely, you see."

"Harry explained that you two were close in life, I never understood that you were that close," Chuck said slowly, as he stepped forwards. The image of Harry didn't even react.

"This is a memory," Dumbledore explained, "That is why Harry doesn't know we're here." He paused for a moment and gestured to the other Dumbledore, from the memory - a slightly younger man - who had now appeared next to Harry and was talking to him.

"This was the very first time I spoke to him - to Harry. He was so innocent and naive then, and I loved him, for he had managed to survive the Dursley's neglect and hate and had come out with a kind, loving soul." Chuck bit his lip as he advanced forward.

"He's my brother you know, I only recently found out." He heard a hum of surprise coming from Dumbledore but he ignored the old man and moved to stand in front of the mirror, wishing to see his own deepest desire.

And he was shocked. Because in that moment, all he saw, was Gods sister, Amara (from his visions), and next to her stood Chuck himself, and on his other side, stood an adult Harry who was laughing at a joke Amara had just told. Behind them, were clusters of angels who were civilly speaking to clusters of humans. And peace reigned on Earth.

Company, Chuck realised, that was what he wanted. He didn't want gold, or fame, as God he already had that, but what he wanted was not to be lonely. That was why he must have created the angels and humans in the first place.

Dumbledore stepped forward to his side, and the images of Chuck's greatest desire disappeared, only to be replaced by their normal reflections. Chuck was struck by how small and tired he looked. "Many men have wasted away in front of this mirror," Dumbledore said and Chuck sighed deeply, realising that he couldn't, shouldn't, invade another person's heaven like that just because he liked the image that his hearts' desire projected onto the mirror.

"You love your brother," Dumbledore finally stated, gazing at him over his glasses, looking dead serious (no pun intended, dead or Sirius). Chuck nodded once, "And he loves you too?"

Chuck's lips tilted upwards, "Yeah."

"Well then, I think, Chuck, he will accept you in any form or shape." Chuck turned to Dumbledore and smiled widely at him and with a nod thanked him. He didn't ask how Dumbledore knew his name, or the reason for his dispair, and he didn't care; as now, he had realised what he had to do.

.

He had found his way back to Heaven's Garden.

Everything was exactly as it had been earlier on. The grass was just as thick, and the scent of nature just as intense. Joshua stood next to the bench as though he had never even moved. He smiled kindly as Chuck approached him.

"You are ready," The man remarked as Chuck neared him. Chuck bowed his head to him in agreement.

"I am ready, Joshua."

…

"Sammy! Sammy!" Dean shouted as he kneeled down beside his dying brother. Said man was coughing violently; the fog was surrounding them, but Dean felt fine, and right now he wanted nothing more than to be dying there with Sammy. Because when this town was dead, Dean would be the only survivor, and this time, Sammy wouldn't be with him. Grabbing a handful of Sam's shirt and gazing up at the ceiling, Dean screamed the words that had been threatening to come out ever since the apocalypse all those years ago had begun: "Stop this! You hear me you dick!"

Noticing he couldn't hear any screams anymore, Dean's eyes swivelled back to his brother and noticed that the latter was starting to loose consciousness. "No, no, no, NO!" Pulling Sam into his lap, he put a palm on his cheek and felt his own throat start constricting from the emotions trying to burst out.

"Sammy - look at me, look at me," Sam's disorientated eyes moved vaguely in Dean's direction and he gulped heavily at the lost look in those eyes. "Come on, Sammy. You'll be fine." Closing his eyes, Dean knew what was going to happen, and he bit his lip and pressed his forehead against Sam's.

And then… he noticed something glowing in Sam's pocket. Swallowing heavily, Dean reached inside and found his amulet, glowing brightly. Suddenly, the fog was gone, and staring down at his brother, he saw that the black veins had disappeared and that Sam was breathing normally once more.

"You're okay," Dean whispered and pulled him up to his feet. The sheriff's office door opened, and the group of people that had barricaded themselves in there, came out looking unharmed. Sam and Dean exchanged a glance and looked down at the glowing amulet in Dean's hand.

Slowly, they left the police station. It seemed the fog had completely receded, and in it's place, shone the bright sun. People who had died due to the fog were now waking up and tearfully hugging relatives… And as they walked down the main road, the amulet started glowing even brighter and then in the distance, they saw a very familiar somebody helping a blonde girl up. "You okay?" He whispered, she nodded and thanked him before spotting a family member and rushing towards them.

And then the figure turned around.

Chuck seemed different, Dean decided; his beard was more cleanly trimmed, and his hair was brushed for once. The eyes were a more intense blue, and he didn't have a perpetually tired look. He also didn't smell of alcohol and was dressed casually and in clean clothes that didn't stink. He was smiling faintly and it struck Dean how omnipresent Chuck seemed.

"We should probably talk."

.

They were in the bunker and Dean was suddenly feeling so tired and just… so betrayed. God had left them, God had left them all, and so much _shit_ had happened to humanity, to their _family_. And now he was back, trying to justify himself.

"I know you had a complicated upbringing, Dean," God said with a stern but saddened expression, "But don't confuse me with your dad."

.

"Where's the guest room? I could use a shower," Chuck asked suddenly, as their conversation came to a close.

"Uh, it's, um... just down the hallway - the fourth door on the left," Sam replied, but then seemed to remember something. "Oh, but Harry's in there right now."

Chuck swivelled around to stare at the Winchesters. His eyes were suddenly filled with emotion, and his lips had become a straight, serious line. "Harry is here." It was more of a statement and less of a question. Sam and Dean exchanged a glance.

"He said he was your brother, well I guess human-Chuck's brother," Dean said. Chuck took a deep breath. When he had, as God, created Chuck, he hadn't created a brother, actually he had been very specific and had designed himself in a way that it wouldn't hurt anyone when it was time for him to become God again.

So who was Harry? Chuck had thoroughly enjoyed the last few months with Harry and he'd vaguely had a feeling of deja vu when Harry did certain things; like laugh, or tell a joke, or even do magic.

It couldn't be him though, could it? It couldn't be that brother, not the one the one that had disappeared after Amara had been locked up in her cage. Harry couldn't be him. _He_ had left so long ago, Chuck had almost forgotten what it was like to feel his presence. Steeling himself from emotions that he'd only started feeling so strongly since he'd been human, Chuck turned back to the Winchesters.

"I don't know. Amara and I…" Chuck paused for a moment and the Winchesters stared at him with wide eyes, "We had a brother, but he wished to have no part in the conflict I had with our sister. He disappeared shortly after her imprisonment - but Harry can't be him. My human self, had no knowledge of being God as I had been reborn as a human. But _My_ brother disappeared eons ago; for all I know he's stuck in the veil. Not dead and not quite alive."

Sam and Dean looked at each other uncomfortably, and Chuck suddenly knew that there was more to this. They knew something he didn't - "Sam, Dean, tell me," He commanded.

"Uh… Well, Harry sort of had a seizure a week ago; because of some sort of vision. He's in a coma right now." Almost the instant the words had left Sam's mouth, Chuck's form became translucent and then he disappeared. The brothers looked at each other in confusion for a moment, then they both suddenly realised that Chuck was probably in the guest room and they bolted in that direction.

Dean threw open the door and the brothers stumbled in, only to find a very different version of Chuck - this one resembled the old one, the one they'd thought was a prophet. He was sitting on Harry's bed, and his face was turned away from them, but Dean could hear the faint sniffles and the tatletale shaking shoulders. And when Chuck turned around to look at them, his eyes were red, puffy and filled with tears. And as they watched, Chuck brushed his hand over Harry's forehead tucking a few bangs behind his ears, only to reveal a lightning bolt scar.

Dean stepped forwards, noticing that Harry's pallor was gone, and that his cheeks had become rosy once more, "Chuck, what the hell is going on here?"

Chuck closed his eyes and his lips tilted upwards in a content smile. A single tear made its way down is face and into his beard. "My brother;" he explained, "He's back."

* * *

 **So, I hope you liked that. Thank you for all the support you guys have shown until now - I really appreciate it! (Btw, has anyone seen HP and the cursed child? I just pre-ordered the book today... So excited!)**

 **Also... thank you to everyone who cleared up what the proper name for soda/pop/etc is!**

 **Anonymous Reviews:**

 **Guest 1:** Thank you for clearing it up!

 **nono:** Aww, thanks!

 **Guest 2:** Glad you like it!

 **Guest 3:** Oh, makes sense. Ahhh... no, Harry isn't God. Idk if you've seen season 11 of Supernatural but (SPOILER!), Chuck is God, and as such, Harry is his brother.

 **Erik:** Happy to hear that!

 **Andy:** Hahah, yeah I guess it isn't stated very clearly in the summary... Well basically the story is: Harry is the In Between. Chuck is God (=Light) and Amara is the Darkness. The rest will be unfolded as the story continues XD

* * *

PREVIEW CHAPTER 5:

 _"So you're not human, Chuck?"_

 _Chuck pursed his lips at the hurt look in Harry's eyes. Said wizard was gripping the bench tightly so as not to topple off of it. How the hell was Chuck not human? How was he Harry's brother then? How was them being related at all possible._

 _"Uh… no." Chuck said slowly, "More like… I created them?"_


	5. Chapter 5

**I know I promised to update on Saturday, but I left school at ca. 11:00 to go to Austria with some classmates. We went to the opera and I was back at ca. 03:00am...**

 **Anyway, I wish you all a very awesome weekend!**

* * *

Dean blinked in surprise as his eyes jumped between Chuck and… his _brother_ _Harry_. "Come again?"

Chuck ignored him and looked down at his brother; he kept caressing Harry's messy hair, but like a father or an older brother would. Dean felt something pulling him back and allowed Sam, his own brother, to take him out of the room. Dean understood why; God hadn't seen his brother since before the creation of humans, and most probably wanted some time for himself.

Sam led him to the main hub where they both sat at the battle-station tables, staring at it in thought. Finally, Sam raised his head, eyes bright with realisation. "Dean, you know what this means?"

Dean shrugged, too lost for words to properly formulate a sentence, finally, he managed to force out a sentence and as was his tendency to speak when in shock, it was mocking, "I don't know Sammy, maybe that God has a hidden _von_ _Trapp_ family somewhere?" ***1**

Sam rolled his eyes exasperatedly and shook his head, "Dean, this means we now have God _and_ his brother on our team. Think that's enough power to gank Amara?" Dean slowly raised his head, blinking rapidly as he realised Sam was right. With both of the brothers going against Amara, she wouldn't have a chance!

"That doesn't mean anything," Came a voice from the archway leading to the hallway and to the different rooms. Dean slowly turned around, only to see Chuck leaning against the doorframe tiredly. His eyes were red-rimmed and his sleeve was wet with tears. He approached them and sunk defeatedly into one of the swivel chairs. For a moment no one said anything, but then Chuck spoke up. "Harry… well, he's still human. When I turned myself into a human, I hid my power, my memories and my 'Grace' so to speak, with Joshua. Harry must have done the same thing… well, _aaaages_ ago. Even I don't know where it is now."

"So you're telling us that Harry - _your brother_ \- doesn't have his mojo?" Dean asked pursing his lips, and brow furrowing. Chuck grimaced and nodded.

"I lived without my power for… well just a tiny blink of time in comparison to Harry. He's done it for eons, and he's started to deteriorate. I regenerated what I could, but it's up to _us_ now to find his power and… well, ultimately it's up to Harry to accept himself as my brother, a primordial being and as the creator of _Natural-Borns_."

Sam started to rub his temples and Dean groaned inwardly. They had enough on their plates. Why did stuff just seem to be thrown on it all of the time? Sooner rather than later, that plate would break.

"Wait - you said Natural-Borns? I think I read about them recently!" Sam had looked up suddenly, and was staring at Chuck with sudden hope. Sprinting to his index, Sam pulled out a card, and then proceeded to find the book with that name. He ran to the opposite side of the room, grabbed an ancient looking book that looked like it'd fall apart any moment now, and hurriedly turned to a specific page. Then he started to read: " This is journal entry of a member of the _Men of Letters_ from 10th century AD: Entry 1.5, "I have encountered a new sort of magician. He says he hasn't ever contacted a demon before and was born with his magic. He calls himself and his society 'Natural-Borns'(…)"

Sam closed the book and turned his stare on Chuck. "So they're real? These witches are real?"

Chuck smiled nostalgically, eyes gazing into the distance. "Yeah, I remember that once I had created my humans, a few millennia later, some of them started to show signs of having more grace than others. I originally assumed that it was grace that had mutated over time, but I later understood that my brother must have somehow initiated this process. It actually makes sense, 'cause Harry's meat-suit is a human 'Natural-Born', he told me about it when we were living together. They call themselves wizards."

"So they could help us fight Amara while Harry's out?" Sam asked slowly and Chuck gently shook his head.

"They went through two civil wars in the last fifty years, I don't think they have the man or willpower to fight something a large as Amara. Anyway, even their collective amount of grace or as they call it, magic, doesn't even compare to Amara's power. Harry's our only chance."

"So what, we find Harry's 'Grace' empty it on him, _then_ gank Amara?"

Chuck's stare turned to him, and this time, Dean noticed that all that playful warmth was gone, instead Chuck's eyes had become cold and unfeeling. Around them, the temperature had dropped several degrees. "No one is 'ganking' Amara. We will find Harry's power, offer it to him; if Harry accepts, we will rescue Lucifer and then, we will force Amara back into the cage." His voice was quiet and broke a bit, but his tone was commanding and powerful and in that moment, Sam and Dean felt cowered. If they had had doubts about Chuck being God, they didn't now.

And then the deity's shoulders sank and the angry expression disappeared. He wet his lips and grimaced as he tried to look anywhere but the Winchester boys. "Ok, look guys, sorry. But she's my family. Amara and Harry are all I have-" His voice broke slightly and he turned away. "Bottom line is, we aren't killing anyone."

Sam and Dean glanced at each other, worried. How could they possibly imprison the _Darkness_ when it had gone so wrongly the last time?

"Now, if anyone needs me, I'll be with Harry," Chuck said, and disappeared.

…

So apparently his mindscape was the Hogwarts Grounds. Considering what had happened here - the battle he'd fought, he'd never expected to come back to this place willingly. Harry still remembered the stench of blood and death; death that the Death Eaters had imposed upon Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Final Battle had been gruesome, each side had been fighting to live and to conquer. Prisoners hadn't even been an option.

But the grounds weren't covered with blood and corpses with empty stares. There was no stench of death, or darkness that shrouded the castle like a veil; instead Hogwarts looked much like it had when Harry had first seen it in his first year, albeit it wasn't nighttime.

He had appeared in his mindscape sometime between sunrise and early morning. Morning dew still hung onto the grass making his shoes wet. The sun had just appeared and the first few cracks of sunlight streamed onto the grounds, illuminating the castle and its windows in beautiful honey-coloured light. Somewhere far away, Harry could hear the birds chirping their morning song.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

Harry spun around at the sound of that very familiar voice, and his eyes widened when he saw none other than Chuck leaning against one of the numerous trees that littered Hogwarts' grounds. He looked good, even for non-alcoholic Chuck. He was wearing a white t-shirt with green sleeves; it looked like someone had taken it straight out of an advertisement for washing agent for white clothes.

His beard was trimmed, and the perpetual shades under his eyes were gone. His hair was neatly brushed, and his skin tone was much healthier since Harry had seen him last. But the biggest difference of them all, was the look in his eyes. In the six months Harry had known his half-brother, he'd witnessed a broken human being; someone who had had a lot of emotional pain. Someone who had been forced to accept his role as a prophet of the Lord, and had suddenly been expected to bow down to the angels. But now… Chuck's eyes told him a different story.

Those light blue eyes shone with power, power above imagining, and mercilessness, but also kindness and compassion. Those were the eyes of a kind man, but also a ruthless one. Those were not the eyes of Chuck.

Almost the instant that realisation came to him, Harry started backing away, suddenly wary of the visitor invading his mindscape. Was this some kind of monster that puts its victims in a coma and then terrorises them in their mind? Or was this some other wizard who had taken the form of Chuck? Or a demon? Of course, this couldn't possibly be Chuck. An angel had kidnapped him, and even if Chuck had managed to escape it's clutches, there was no possible way he could enter Harry's own mind - he wasn't a wizard!

"Who the hell are you? What the fuck are you doing in my mind? You're not Chuck!" Harry's back hit a tree trunk and he groaned slightly as pain radiated from his lower back to his neck.

The pseudo-Chuck advanced, the kind smile still gracing his lips. He raised two placating hands, "Do not be afraid, brother. I can explain."

At Harry's snort of disbelief, the man rolled his eyes in such a Chuck-esque way, that Harry believed him for a moment. "I am your brother, I can prove it to you."

Harry snorted again, but pseudo-Chuck pressed on; "When I met you for the first time, I was wearing my ironman t-shirt. I invited you in and offered you a beer. You told me you were my brother and I let you stay at my place. I confessed to you that I was a prophet, and you told me you are a wizard, yeah?"

"Come on! You seriously think I'll believe that? You probably just figured all of that out - or you've been watching me and Chuck for a while now."

Pseudo-Chuck sighed and looked down at the ground in shame. "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this Harry, but I'll reveal something to you that only Chuck would know but would embarrass you to hell and back." He took a deep dramatic breath, "You hate Justin Bieber, but keep singing Baby in the shower."

Harry stared at pseudo-Chuck in bewilderment, before finally a smile graced his previously pursed lips and he started laughing. Chuck's eyes met his, and suddenly, Harry saw something of the old Chuck back in there. Seconds later, they were in each other's arms, hugging as though they'd thought the other was dead only to find out that the opposite was in fact true.

When Harry let go of him, he took a step back and closely examined Chuck. "Dude, what the hell happened with that angel? And how the fuck are you in my mind - I thought only wizards could do that?"

Chuck took a deep breath before gesturing at a bench which Harry had curiously previously not noticed. They sat down, Harry crosslegged on one end, and Chuck sitting somewhat awkwardly on the other. "It's a long story I guess."

"The beginning is always a good place to start," Harry murmured after a moment, looking questioningly at his brother.

Chuck smiled bitterly, as though sharing a private joke with himself, "Yeah, I guess it all started in the Beginning." Seeing Harry's confused stare, he chuckled and elaborated, "In the Beginning, as in _the Beginning."_

Harry snorted, "What, the Beginning of time itself?" Chuck nodded solemnly, and Harry reexamined him, suddenly feeling much more serious himself.

"Look, Harry, I'm going to tell you some stuff now, and don't… freak out or anything, yeah?" At Harry's nod, he continued; "When the angel kidnapped me, I was brought to the Angel Joshua and I was told… that well, I'm older than I thought I was."

"So what, dad was a teen dad?" He questioned with a smirk. Chuck smiled meekly, before shaking his head. "Nah, not that type of old, a little older. Um, try as old as time itself." Harry stared at him, trying to figure out whether Chuck was joking. The man's eyes were serious, and intense, and suddenly, Harry felt like he wanted the Earth to swallow him hole.

"So you're not human, Chuck?"

Chuck pursed his lips at the hurt look in Harry's eyes. Said wizard was gripping the bench tightly so as not to topple off of it. How the hell was Chuck not human? How was he Harry's brother then? How was them being related at all possible, then?

"Uh… no." Chuck said slowly, "More like… I created them?"

There was a moment of terse silence, save for the sounds of the projections of students of Hogwarts who spilling out into the grounds to share a peaceful moment before classes started. Harry in turn was just staring at the man who he had thought was his brother. Staring at him with amazement, shock, bewilderment and quite a lot of horror, then he gestured upwards into the sky and swallowed heavily so as to set his throat into motion.

" _You're_ the man upstairs? _You're_ God?" Harry gestured up and down Chuck's body, staring at him incredulously, " _That's_ God?"

Chuck nodded slowly, before smiling, "Yeah. You don't approve of my looks?"

"I never expected God to look like that. Not as a human."

"Who did you expect I looked like?"

"I don't know - Morgan Freeman?" Chuck - no - God laughed, and his eyes twinkled, much like Dumbledore's had whenever he found something amusing.

"And what about Chuck? The Chuck I knew - where is he? Or was he a lie?" Harry swallowed nervously.

God pursed his lips and looked away, ashamed. "A few millennia ago, I left heaven and hid my grace with Joshua, I then let myself fall into the human reincarnation cycle, with strict instructions only to awake me when the Earth was severely in danger and the Winchesters couldn't save it. I was born as Chuck, unaware that I was… God. The man you knew is me, albeit with a few more years on his tab."

"Your life as Chuck must seem like a blink in all the time you've lived."

God smiled nostalgically, examining Harry, eyes surprisingly not judging him, "Oh Harry, you are still so very important to me. So very important." He reached out with a hand to touch Harry's face. The latter man flinched slightly at the touch and God sighed sadly, before he retracting his hand.

"But I'm a human, I'm an ant - no - I'm some type of microscopic organism to a God. I'm tiny, compared to you." Harry was speaking through the lump in his throat and trying his best not to let the tears escape his eyes. He was taking everything in with a surprising amount of acceptance, as though he'd known that the good things that happened to him would never last, and that in the end he'd loose Chuck too.

"Harry," God placed a hand on Harry's knee and instantly warmth spread through Harry, as though he'd just drank a beautifully made glass of fresh Butterbeer - only twenty times better. Harry's eyes started drooping slightly and unconsciously he leaned in into the embrace Chuck pulled him into. This was much like what he'd imagined having an older brother might be. He'd always seen Bill and Charlie hugging their younger brothers like that and had always hoped, _wished_ he'd somehow find an older brother. "Harry, listen to me. I have to tell you something very important."

Harry raised his eyes to meet God's brilliant blue eyes; they were sincere and so very sad. "I don't think anything can shock me now. God is real-"

"Call me Chuck, Harry."

"-demons are real, angels are real, I'm a wizard, what else can there be that might surprise me?"

Chuck chuckled, "A shitload of things, trust me Harry. Just let me finish my story… and don't interrupt me, yeah?" Harry nodded once, suddenly very confused, and jerked away from the hug, only to turn his head back to face the castle, so that he could see the beautiful landscape that his mind had conjured for him.

"In the beginning there was Light (Chuck placed a hand on his chest to show what Light had become), Darkness and the In Between. We were siblings. The Darkness - you've read about her in the Supernatural - represented death, rebirth, life and… well, Darkness. She balanced me out, for I represented life, creation and light. And our sibling, the In Between was the greyness. He was neither light nor dark, neither death nor creation. He was _our_ balance, and kept us from destroying the other."

"I created the angels, 'cause I became lonely. The Darkness - Amara - accused me of loving my creations and the In Between more than I did her and she went on a path of destruction. She corrupted my Leviathans, and when I created Humanity, she became so terrible and so merciless, and one day, as retaliation to an argument I had with her, she… _murdered_ my brother. Well, I thought she murdered him, but I…" Chuck's voice broke, and when Harry turned his head to look at him, he saw that the God's eyes were slightly red, and that he was dabbing at his nose with a handkerchief.

"I was so fraught with despair and sudden and utter _hate_ for her that my Archangels and I locked her up in an unbreakable cage: The Mark of Cain." Chuck paused and turned to stare at Harry who averted his gaze for a moment, then locked his eyes back on Chuck's. "And when I had taught humanity all I could, I left. When I, as Chuck, remembered who I really was, I was confused as to who _you_ were for I had created my future bodies with very specific parameters in mind, one of which was that I would be an only child. Hence, your existence should have not been possible."

Chuck swallowed nervously, before a watery smile appeared on his face, "And I realised that it would have only been possible, if the In Between had survived Amara all those years ago, and had been flung into the reincarnation cycle only to be born as one Harry James Potter, brother to Chuck Shurley. Fate brought us together, I know it and I see it now. You have no soul, nor any resemblance to a human. You are my _brother_."

For a moment, Harry felt like his head had been dunked under a large pool of water. He could neither hear nor feel nor smell anything. He was suddenly suspended in a cosmos of his own making: a large space void of emotions. And then it all came crashing down. Relief, love, despair, hate, panic, happiness, amazement and finally disbelief shocked him into action and he sprung up and started running. He ran up to the castle, not once looking back. He tripped a few times, but that didn't stop him, he flung open the castle doors and continued running; he ran up the stairs, down, sideways, and everywhere he could imagine until his breath was coming out in short gasps and his vision was blurry.

He let himself drop against a wall and when his backside had reached the floor, he wrapped his arms around his knees and he wept. He wept for Chuck Shurley: the prophet who had briefly lived and had died when God had come back, he wept for the Winchesters: who had so much else to do, and so little psychological reserves left, he wept for humanity and finally, he wept for Harry Potter, the scared little boy who had only ever wanted a family to love and who loved him... for Harry Potter, the little boy who had never dreamed that getting that family would mean becoming God's brother

…

When Chuck's presence retreated back into his own body he stared down at Harry's sleeping form. Harry's human body. Raising a hand to his cheek, Chuck very suddenly noticed that a single lone tear had rolled down into his beard and for a moment he stared at his wet fingertips. He had never cried before; yes he had felt despair and loss and every emotion ever felt, but he had never cried.

Harry was locked in his own body. A prison cell of his own making. Chuck had now delivered the message, now it was up to Harry to accept it, to return to his former position as God's and Amara's brother. Chuck couldn't help him now, only Harry himself could.

* * *

 **So, I hope you enjoyed that... And I'm very glad you found the time to read this (I've barely had time - with school (yes, I still have a week of school), homework, extracurricular activities and pokemon go, I've barely had time for anything else!).**

 **Anyway, references:**

 ***1: Von Trapp family was an Austrian family with like ten children. Do you know the Sound of Music movie? Well, the family featured in the movie is the von Trapp family.**

 **Anonymous Reviews:**

 **nono: Thank you! Parts of the conversation were quotes from Doctor who!**

 **GreenLief: Thank you!**

* * *

Preview: Chapter 6:

 _Harry smiled warmly at him, and reached out with a hand and patted Gabriel on the shoulder, "In the future, when you meet my human self - his name will be Harry Potter - don't… prank him. Just tell him how much he is missed by his family, and he will understand." Then with another pat, Harry disappeared, leaving Gabriel alone in the 'diner', and resting on the 'counter' next to the 'beer bottle', was a thin vial with a cork stopper. In it, swam beautiful tendrils of golden light._


	6. Chapter 6

**So, today is my first day of summer holidays... meaning I will be able to write more for the next seven weeks... then I will start my last year of school o_o**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading so far (if you have made it so far)... and enjoy!**

* * *

 ** _Sometime BH_ (B** _ **efor**_ _ **e**_ **H** _ **umans):**_

 _Gabriel wasn't the sort to get scared easily; he wasn't some lowly angel. Sure, some of the new angel fledglings, the Seraphs for example, got scared easily, especially when an Archangel flew by them. After all, Gabriel had to admit, Michael and especially Lucifer - the most beautiful and revered of them all -_ _were quite a sight to behold. With their six hundred or so multicoloured wings, and their enormous hight, they easily towered over most of Earth's largest mountains, not to mention the Seraphs._

 _The fact was, Gabriel was an Archangel, and like Michael, Lucifer and Raphael he was quite used to the Seraphs cowering when he flew past them. He was used to being feared, not fearing someone himself. But now, Gabriel found himself in a terrified state. His father, the Light, had been spending much time on Earth recently, experimenting and trying to find the perfect formula for something he was apparently going to call 'Humans'. Lucifer didn't seem to like it; he behaved like the perfect little son for now._

 _The Darkness, Father's sister was becoming resteless, Gabriel could sense it in her. Every day, her hate towards Father's increased by tenth-fold. Recently, Heaven had been shaking with pure, violent power as a result of their arguments. The In Between, their brother ducked out of arguments, taking neither side. He seemed reluctant to join them in their arguments. As the In Between, he represented peace and the balance between the Creator and his Sister, the Destroyer._

 _And it was because of him, that Gabriel was currently in a frenzied state. He was aware that his wings were ruffled and he tried to brush them down as best as he could, it wouldn't do to appear before his Father's brother looking like an ungroomed Cherub! The In Between had requested his presence, and as the ever dutiful general of Heaven, Gabriel had immediately obeyed._

 _Hence, the reason why he immediately departed from Heaven and flew to the requested spot… on Earth._

 _Gabriel appeared in an odd looking room, it had high ceilings and odd flat surfaces (tables! the word had popped into his head as he thought about them) with… chairs surrounding them. These odd things were separated by screens, probably to give people an illusion of privacy. Somewhere in the background, Gabriel could hear the dulcet tunes of music; music very unlike to that of the Choir of Heaven. This one… was more active and put him in a less sombre mood._

 _"_ _This is called a 'diner'," Said a young voice and when Gabriel turned his attention to the source, his eyes widened at seeing the In Between leaning against one such flat surface (the counter!, his grace supplied). For some reason, the In Between had adopted human form, but unlike the ones that Gabriel had seen until now, he was dressed futuristically, in blue trousers and some kind of sleeveless shirt. Instantly, Gabriel morphed into something resembling a human; it wouldn't hold too long, for that he would need a vessel, but this would do for the moment._

 _Instantly, Gabriel lowered his wings and bowed his head in a show of respect. He heard a chuckle and looked up, only to see that the In Between had placed an odd bottle in front of him, it was filled with amber liquid._

 _"_ _Come on, have a drink. This is 'beer'. Humans are going to invent it in a few hundred years. You should try it, it's quite tasty." The In Between winked at him and took a sip of his own drink which hadn't been there seconds ago. "Actually, you should get used to all of this-" The In Between gestured at the 'diner' smiling widely, "-In a few thousands of years, Humanity will love these things, I bet, you will too."_ ***1**

 _Gabriel bit his lip and glanced at the bottle with the amber liquid. What was the In Between doing? Why had he requested Gabriel's presence? Why had he created all of this? Surely his Father wouldn't approve of the way the In Between was messing with the course of humanity. As if sensing his trail of thought, the In Between grew more sombre._

 _"_ _You are wondering why I called you here today?" He asked, his tone slightly melancholy. Gabriel nodded once, and gently reached out with his fingers to take the bottle; they still felt a little stiff._

 _"_ _I've been watching my Brother's creations for a while, and out of all of them, I think I can trust you the most." Gabriel felt his breath - and Angels didn't even have to breathe - catch in his throat. For one of the Big Three to give him such a compliment…_

 _"_ _I am very honoured, Uncle," Gabriel finally forced out of his stiff throat. It felt odd, having to communicate via vibrations coming through the Human mouth._

 _The In Between chuckled, "Call me Harry, Gabe."_

 _Gabriel stared at him for a moment, "Harry?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, I like the name," He laughed again, but now Gabriel could hear the melancholy undertone, "Anyway, I didn't call you here to discuss my name. Fact is, the Darkness is pissed-" Gabriel winced at the curse word; his Father didn't approve, "-and she's going to kill me soon." *_ **2**

 _Gabriel's mouth felt dry all of a sudden and he wet his lips uncertainly - how did the In Between… Harry… know this? Why was he so sure? Harry took another swig from his bottle and Gabriel copied him, and almost spit out the liquid when it touched his tongue and caused a magnitude of different taste buds to fire up. Harry smiled, amused._

 _"_ _Kill you?" Gabriel finally managed to say. Harry nodded sadly._

 _"_ _I am afraid, her argument with my Brother is going out of hand. She has already taken steps to exploit my weaknesses. But I am going to disappear before she manages to actually do it. It'll look like she killed me; this is where you come in, Gabe."_

 _"_ _I will do anything, Harry," Gabriel said, bowing his head to the primordial being. Harry grinned in amusement, or maybe even thankfulness._

 _"_ _I am going to put myself into the Human reincarnation cycle, and I need you to hide my grace for me, and not let anyone where it is. Do you understand?" It wasn't his place to ask questions, especially not when one of the Big Three gave him a mission, but being the slight rebel and prankster that he was, Gabriel said: "But… why? Father will be devastated!"_

 _Gabriel had seen a few angels fall from grace already. They had fallen to humanity, and had become one of them, most of them gave up their grace… and once they fell into the reincarnation cycle, they never remembered who they had been. Humanity was the perfect way to hide away; the ultimate witness protection programme._

 _"_ _And that is exactly why you mustn't tell him about our arrangement. You will take my grace, and hide it well. Hide it on Earth, and when the time is right, when I need to come back, I shall. I shall find my grace, and become who I am."_

 _Harry smiled warmly at him, and reached out with a hand and patted Gabriel on the shoulder, "In the future, when you meet my human self - his name will be Harry Potter - don't… prank him. Just tell him how much he is missed by his family, and he will understand." Then with another pat, Harry disappeared, leaving Gabriel alone in the 'diner', and resting on the 'counter' next to the 'beer bottle', was a thin vial with a cork stopper. In it, swam beautiful tendrils of light._

…

Harry awoke with a sudden, loud gasp which subsequently made him cough as if there was no tomorrow. Looking around, he saw a glass of water standing on the bedside table, and eagerly gulped down the beverage. Once he had drunk his fill, he set the glass back on the nightstand and leaned back against the cushions, mulling his dream over - the one with Chuck in his mindscape and the other, more recent one.

So apparently, he was Chuck's brother. And if the second dream wasn't a dream but really, a memory, then Gabriel had his grace. Swallowing heavily, Harry ran a hand through his face. Why did the weird shit always have to happen to him? Why couldn't someone else take the crap for once. A traitorous voice in his mind told him he _sought_ out the danger and the crap, only so that other people didn't have to take it.

Rolling his eyes at his own angst, Harry threw his legs over the mattress and reached out for the morning robe laying on the bottom of his bed. A pair of flip-flops had been laid out for him and he slipped into them.

Suddenly he wondered about Hermione and Ron; what would they make of this? Would they tell him to sacrifice himself, sacrifice Harry, and become the In Between so that he could help Chuck and the Winchesters? Or would they support him as their friend. Their… _brother_? Would Ron be jealous, as he always was - or would he gracefully accept that his friend, the boy he had grown up with and followed into battle, wasn't really his friend, but a lie? Would Hermione start questioning him about the academic aspects? Or would she support his decision whatever that would be?

Right now, however breakfast sounded better than mulling over those questions. Then, as if in answer to his train of thought, his stomach grumbled, and Harry smiled, before dutifully opening his door and looking up and down the corridor, wondering which turn lead to the kitchen. Eventually, he decided to follow the smell of pancakes.

Even from a distance, Harry could already hear them talking; Dean was saying something at which Sam laughed and was later joined by Chuck. And when Harry rounded the corner and appeared in the hallway, he came upon an odd sight. Sam and Dean were sitting at the table, while Chuck stood at the stove wearing an apron and making… pancakes? When he turned around to face Sam and Dean (who's expression Harry couldn't see for their faces were turned away from him), he picked up a cup saying ' _World's Greatest Dad_ '. This elicited a snort from Harry and subsequently resulted in everyone's gazes snapping to him.

"Eh… Good morning?"

Chuck's face brightened and he was staring at Harry almost longingly, as though he desperately wished to have his brother back. Harry in turn avoided his gaze and sat down next to Sam - as far away from Chuck as was possible.

"Gad to see you're feeling better," Chuck said after a moment, resulting in them falling into an awkward silence. Harry avoided everyone's gazes as he dug into the pancake that Chuck placed in front of him and instead examined the kitchen with interest, as though someone had changed it's design since the last time Harry had seen it.

"So, are you, uh, getting your mojo back?" Dean asked suddenly, turning to him. Sam elbowed his older brother in the ribs for his tactless approach and sent Harry an apologetic smile. Harry raised a sceptical eyebrow, before turning his accusing gaze on Chuck. "You told them!"

"They were there when I realised you are my brother." Chuck said quietly, eyes locking on to Harry's.

"Look, Chuck, yeah I'm your brother, but there's probably a reason why I left… Don't you think it would be counter-productive to become _him?_ " Harry exhaled through his nose, "Whatever, my grace is lost anyway."

Sam doubled back, "You know what happened to your grace!?" Dean was staring at him too, so full of hope. Harry dragged a hand through his hair and made a point not to look at Chuck.

"Yeah… Uh, I sort of had a dream, I think I left it with Gabe, that is, Gabriel, the Archangel."

For a moment no one said anything, then Sam snorted in morbid amusement. Dean rolled his eyes as he banged his hand against the kitchen table. "Dude, it's not their lives that are fucked up-" Dean gestured at Chuck and Harry who had the grace to look sheepish, "-ours are pretty fucked up too. When was the last time we didn't have to find some shit to defeat our next challenge? How the hell are we going to find Harry's grace now? Gabriel took _that_ secret to the grave," Sam blurted out, then tilted his head to the side as if pondering some new theory, "Or, he never really died. And actually just tricked everyone. _Again_."

"No, he's dead," Chuck said with finality. Harry flinched at that, suddenly feeling remorseful for the Archangel who had seemed so innocent and _young_ in his dream.

"Could you just, I don't know, create Gabriel again?" Sam asked, turning to Chuck as he did so. Chuck shook his head.

"No, Archangels take time to create. We don't have that time."

Harry waved his hands at them to gain their attention, "Look guys, we're not going to find my Grace or any of that crap. I just… I just want to go back to the UK, to my life. Ok? I'll leave within the morning." Dean gaped at him with shock and anger. He stood up threateningly.

"Dude," He started, advancing on Harry, "We give everything we have to keep this Earth spinning. We've died so many times, that I've lost count, and we've lost so many of our friends, so don't fucking come here and tell me you don't want to fight this war. You are _God's_ _brother_ , for God's sake!"

Chuck pursed his lips. "I resent that," he muttered under his breath as he crossed his arms to watch the scene unfold.

Harry, in turn, felt rage build up in him and he stood up, pancake forgotten. Glaring at Dean, he stepped forward and even though said man was almost half a head larger than him, he suddenly felt as though he was towering over him. " _Don't ever fucking tell me that I don't know what loss is,_ " He hissed under his breath, eyes suddenly lighting up with pain and… _power_. "My parents are dead, my godfather is dead, my headmaster died because of me. My parents' friends all died with me there. My childhood friends - many of them are six feet under. I have _lost_ so much, so, sorry if I don't want to loose more and maybe even become someone like God's brother who has probably lost _more_ and suffered even more than I already have."

Harry was panting by the end of his rant, as he gazed upwards at the slightly cowered Dean Winchester. His hand was slowly reaching down to the morning robe's pocket where he had placed his wand.

"Brother… please," Chuck's voice was even, but as Harry turned his attention to him, he found himself shocked about how much Chuck _cared._ "If not for us, or even me, then for Humanity. They are so wonderful and so, so resilient. A fallen angel told me this: Humanity is my greatest creation because they are greater than I am, greater than the Darkness. They're weak and they cheat and steal and... destroy and disappoint - And damn they have disappointed me a lot, but they also give and create and they sing and dance and love. And above all, they never give up, and right now, Harry you are giving up.

"Help us lock her away. Help us, and when it's all over, you can disappear again; I won't fight you on whatever your decision is."

* * *

 **I realise that this chapter was particularly short, and I apologise. On the bright side, I have another two chapters ready to post... Well, I still have to correct the grammar and continuity, but they'll be coming along quite soon.**

 **ANs**

 ***1: My reasoning was that as primordial beings, Chuck, the Darkness and Harry have a sort of vague ability to look into the future... or maybe possible futures. But tbh, I think every possible future of humanity has beer.**

 ***2: So my reasoning behind Gabriel's innocence is that he hasn't properly met humanity yet. Huge pranks, adultery and things like that are still things that humans haven't done yet. Hence the reason why he doesn't like cursing. Awww, cute foetus-Gabriel.**

 **Anonymous reviews:**

 **nono: As always thank you for reviewing! I really appreciate it!**

 **littlerocker: Well, I hope it was up to your expectations!**

 **Chucks Wardrobe: Thank you so much! I'm glad it 'sucked you in'. As for Gabriel... hehehee**

 **Guest: *u* thanks XD**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you very much for reading so far (and congratulations on managing to get so far!)**

 **I've been on a roll recently, typing stories/chapters pretty fast (not only for this one but also for other stories), because obviously, having summer holidays means I have a lot of spare time on my hands. _However_ , I was recently bit by my dog and typing, drawing and writing is pretty hard so I have to do most of it with my left hand... Chapters might come at a slightly slower pace for the next week or two or so. Sorry!**

* * *

Harry's agreement to help them for the time being caused an unprecedented tension in the bunker. It was as though everyone constantly expected Harry to blow up, even as he went about his daily routine. Currently, they were trying to track down Harry's grace, while actively searching for Lucifer, a.k.a. Castiel. So far, they didn't have many leads on both accounts. When Sam had proposed the idea of resurrecting Gabriel, Chuck had instantly shot it down. According to him, Archangels took a shitload of time to create and they didn't have that time right now.

So, they were stuck searching and brainstorming for ideas as to where _Gabriel,_ the prankster would/could have potentially hidden Harry's grace. After a few days of deliberating the fact, they came down to two top candidates; a carny festival or fair (pranksters, after all liked to hang around such places), _or_ something belonging exclusively to the magical world.

As a result, Sam and Harry had spent the past few hours at the Winchester's laptop, hacking servers of a variety of scientific departments of different Universities, trying to see if someone had noticed a certain spike of electromagnetic energy. Sam and Harry were currently sitting at one of the numerous tables in the library. Sam was staring at his screen as though mentally willing the decoding and searching process to happen a little faster, while Harry was leaning back in his chair while using a whipped cream dispenser to fill his mouth with said dessert.

"Ew, man, you're almost as disgusting as Dean," Sam said, finally turning his gaze at his fellow researcher. Harry shrugged and tried to swallow the cream as best as he could.

"Why, what does Dean do?" He asked, voice a little muffled as he spoke with a mouth full of whipped cream. Sam grimaced and gestured at Harry's face.

"Well, pretty much that with hamburgers."

"So, you're more of a 'salad-kinda-guy'," Harry said with a laugh. Sam's sarcastic reply was cut off, as his laptop pinged and both men's gazes zeroed on the screen which was displaying one single result. Exchanging a nervous glance, Sam clicked on the result, and started paraphrasing the text: "It's an abandoned carny fair area, just outside Oklahoma City. Apparently, they've had weird electromagnetic fluctuations for about a week now. Could be a coincidence."

"Harry fell into a coma a week ago. It's not a coincidence," Chuck had appeared on the other side of the table. He was holding a bag of skittles in one hand, and was popping them into his mouth. His feet were resting on the table. "The grace must've realised that it's owner is aware of it's existence."

"I won't even start with how twisted that sounds," Said Dean, walking into the library with a paper plate and a peeled banana. "Hey! That's where the whipped cream went-" He wrestled the dispenser out of Harry's hand (who pouted angrily) and sprayed a healthy, generous amount of cream on his banana. Sam started at him, disgusted.

"So… Um… that's the right place then?" Harry mumbled slowly, facing the elephant in the room. Dean and Sam exchanged a glance; a wordless conversation. Chuck cleared his throat and let his feet fall to the floor. The skittles he'd been munching on disappeared from his hands and he stood up.

Dean, who had just been in the process of cutting up his banana, stopped and looked from Chuck to Harry and then back to Chuck. "So, we're all going - to get Harry's grace?"

Harry swallowed uncomfortably when everyone turned to stare at him. He'd originally disagreed with their plan. Evidently his primordial self had decided to disappear from Heaven and the world. He had evidently wanted some peace and some… normality. And now, Harry was diving back in. Would he - the primordial being - be happy with Harry's decision?

"Yeah, ok. Let's do this."

…

They appeared just outside Oklahoma City. Somewhere in the distance, Harry could hear the typical sounds of a city: cars, traffic, airplanes etc. The sun was setting, casting a golden light over the landscape. Their little group of people was standing on a gravel road which to the right, lead to the city in the distance, and to the left lead to what looked like an abandoned carny fair.

Slowly, and not speaking a word to each other, Team free will, minus Cas and plus Chuck and Harry, made it's way down to the centre of the fair. It was abandoned, that much was certain; the smallish circus tent had imploded in on itself. Most lightbulbs attached to the perimeter of various attractions and booths were broken and those that weren't looked like they had stopped working long ago. The merry-go-round place to the right of their little group was depressingly silent, save for a few disemboweled figures of horses that creaked when gusts of wind hit them.

"If this is a representation of your grace or the state your conjured body is in, it's no wonder that it was starting to wear thin before I repaired most of the damage," Chuck said quietly, taking in the scene with widened eyes. Sam and Dean were similarly shocked.

"Dude, even I didn't look so crap when Cas pulled me outta Hell."

Harry's laugh was sardonic when he turned to look at the group. "The more I find out about your brother, Chuck, the less I want to be him." Harry sighed and took a step backwards, now in the very centre of the carny fair, "But I guess it's not about what I _want,_ it's never been about _that_ , but about what's good for the greater good-"

It was at that moment, that Harry had taken a step into the very middle, the pinnacle of the fair, that something extraordinary happened. As if by magic - or grace, Harry corrected himself - the attractions (even those with the broken lightbulbs) lit up, casting merry light into the darkening landscape. The merry-go-round started turning, and various attractions started blaring music over their loudspeakers. The most prominent song however, the song that they could all hear loudest, was 'Staying Alive', which Harry thought was quite an ironic touch.

"Your grace is reacting to your presence," Chuck said quietly, stepping forwards to stand next to Harry, side by side while Dean and Sam hung back. Harry bit his lip and raised his hand so that he could look at it closer. He wriggled his fingers and watched as golden tendrils of light danced and curled around his fingertips.

"It's beautiful," He breathed as he took it all in. He could feel it in the air; that power, that… _magic._ "The air is saturated with my grace," He mumbled to Chuck, watching as more and more attractions turned on and started either blaring music or flashing lights. Similarly, Harry could feel his own body reacting to that immense power. Suddenly his senses were hypersensitive, and he could feel that power coursing through his body, fixing what needed to be fixed. It tried to gain entry into his essence but for now, Harry denied it entrance.

And then, something even more shocking happened:

The merry-go-round had done a few full turns by now, and one of the only full sculptures upon which Harry supposed children had once sat on, had turned back to face them… And sitting on one of these miraculously unharmed sculptures was… the Archangel Gabriel.

.

Gabriel hopped off the pink platypus he had been riding on, and strode over to them, before stopping a few feet away. The little group just stared at him for a moment or two, as their minds tried to wrap around the fact that Gabriel _wasn't_ dead and that, somehow, he had managed to trick Lucifer and… well… pretty much everyone into thinking that he had died. ***1**

Chuck was the first to react; he took a step forwards, raising his hand as though to initiate a hug with his youngest archangel, but Gabriel did the exact opposite; he took a step back and crossed his arms, a scowl evident on his face. Chuck's hand dropped and he stared sorrowfully at his son.

"What the fuck-" Dean started, perfectly summarising what both Sam and Harry were also thinking, but he was interrupted by Gabriel.

"Language, Dean-o! Don't want to get the Big Man pissed off here, do we?" His hateful smirk - directed at Chuck was ugly and very out-of-place on the kind, innocent face Harry remembered from his dream.

"I am so sorr-" Chuck was rudely interrupted by the no longer smirking Gabriel. Instead, the Archangel's face had become expressionless as he turned to stare at his father.

"Sorry 'bout what?" Gabriel countered in a falsely cheerful voice.

Chuck bit his lip, "I left you - all of you and I am so sorry." At those words, Gabriel's face transformed into something much more vicious. His eyes became simultaneously cold and hot with anger, and an ugly frown appeared on his face.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, _dad_. Do you _know,_ how much we _care_ , how much we all _loved_ you? Did you hear our prayers? Not just the Humans' but _ours_? Did you hear them?"

"I heard them," Chuck confessed causing Harry to look at him, shocked at this revelation. He didn't know what he'd do if suddenly, he started hearing prayers of all of Humanity combined. "I was human, but sometimes I heard them in my dreams."

"And you did _nothing_." Gabriel said with disgust, staring at his father, betrayal now clear in his eyes. Harry bit his lip and tried to look away, suddenly feeling as though this meeting between father and son was too intimate for him to witness. A glance back at Dean and Sam revealed that they too, were uncomfortably staring at the scene unfolding in front of them.

Shaking his head, Gabriel turned away from his father, apparently declaring him to be a lost cause. He paced for a little, before he came to face Harry. When their eyes met, Harry had a sudden deja vu moment. Standing in front of him wasn't the Gabriel they had all witnessed mere moments ago, but instead a less jaded more innocent version of him. This Gabriel's eyes were softer and more forgiving.

"So?" Gabriel questioned.

"So what?"

"So - What do you think?" Gabriel elaborated, wildly gesturing around the fair with his hands; the mischievous smile was now back. "Pretty awesome, don't you think?"

Harry felt himself smile faintly, "Yeah, you did a good job hiding my grace," He paused as he breathed in the grace-saturated air, "Thank you for that, Gabriel."

"Are you really going to take it back - are you going to become _His_ brother again?" His voice was full with undeniable hope and Harry bit the inside of his cheek.

"Yeah, I have to, for the sake of Chuck's creations. You know, I've sort of become quite attached to a few of them," He smiled, as suddenly flashbacks of his early years at Hogwarts, the Christmases, the Halloween parties, the balls, all came crashing back to him. "I sort of owe Humanity a little thank you."

Gabriel snorted, and glanced at the Winchesters, "Yeah, Humans really grow on you."

"So you ready?" Gabriel asked after a lapse in their conversation. Harry nodded once and closed his eyes briefly, so as to compose himself. When he opened his eyes, Chuck had moved back to his side, and Gabriel was awkwardly holding something wrapped up in a ratty old cloth.

Harry frowned as he looked down at the innocent-looking wrapped up 'present'. "I guess that holds some sort of significance."

Gabriel chuckled, "Yeah. You see, I thought a carnival fair was a tad too ostentatious so I sort of transferred the Grace into - wait for it-" Gabriel transferred the wrapped up parcel into his left hand and with his right pulled off one corner of the cloth, revealing three items. The Deathly Hallows.

For a moment, Harry stared at the objects with bemusement, and then he _understood_. The very thing that Voldemort had killed him with all those years ago, was now his _salvation_. "So this is it? This is my Grace - in the Deathly Hallows?"

Gabriel smirked, "Ding! Bullseye! Got it in one!" He twirled exuberantly on his spot, before finally coming face to face with Harry again. "I created this fair to reflect your Grace and I hoped that one day, you might walk in here and it would react as a sort of summoning to me; like that I would be able to bring the Deathly Hallows - the real hosts of your Grace - to you!"

"But how did you get them? I mean, I put the Elder Wand in Dumbledore's grave, and I abandoned the stone somewhere in the forrest. I left the cloak to Andromeda so that she could give it to Teddy when he grew up a little."

Gabriel scratched his head uncomfortably, "Well, uh, I sort of… eh… stole them?" Seeing Harry's stern gaze, Gabriel put up his hands in defence, "I swear I'll return them, when they're empty of their grace!"

"Wait, wait, wait - what're these Deathly Hallows?" Dean asked suddenly, remind Harry that the Winchesters were also there. Harry tapped his chin thoughtfully, wondering how to best explain the situation.

"Eh, they're these really powerful objects from my world. They're supposed to have been created by Death - apparently not." Gabriel waggled his eyebrows as a response to that.

"So what do I do?" Harry asked after a moment, then his jerked his head at the glowing Hallows - they were pulsating with golden light. "What do I do to get my grace back?" Chuck had by this time, taken a few steps back to give Gabriel and Harry some privacy and presumably catching up time, but now, Harry felt God's hand on his shoulder.

"You told me back then to tell you now that you are missed by your family, and that if future-Human-you wants to become the In Between again, you'll know what to do." With that, Gabriel dropped the Hallows into Harry's arms.

Before Harry could even open his mouth to formulate a proper response to that, he found himself hurling through time and space. The feeling resembled that of a portkey, but more powerful and more… dominant and violent. When they finally landed, Harry's knees buckled under him and he almost fell into the plush grass.

 _Wait… Grass?_

He felt someone hoist him up and when he looked around himself, he found that he was in one of the most beautiful gardens he had ever been in. And helping him up was Chuck. Harry jerked his arm away from the man, glaring at him succinctly.

They were standing next to a perfect white bench and Harry could only guess that this was Paradise. Nothing could feel so real and yet so surreal at the same moment. Also, there was nothing else that could make him feel so at home and yet so far away from it as well. It was only as Harry started gazing around himself, that he saw a dark-skinned man standing a little farther away from them.

 _Joshua_ , his mind supplied - or rather - Harry looked down at the Hallows containing his grace and he frowned; he was almost certain that the whispered name had come from them.

"Welcome home, Harry," Joshua's voice was deep and he had a faint accent which Harry couldn't quite place yet.

"Son, could you please leave us for a moment?" Chuck demanded gently, and Harry suddenly realised how odd it all looked; a ca. thirty-year-old man was calling a fifty-year-old man his 'son'. Then again, appearances weren't everything, Harry mused, thinking about Chuck's real identity. Joshua smiled at his father, very happy to do whatever he asked, and with a short, respectful bow, he vanished. Chuck sighed and turned back to Harry.

"We're in Heaven." Harry stated after a moment. Chuck nodded and smiled nostalgically.

"Yeah, it's the most peaceful place in creation, great for making decisions. Actually, I spent several millennia here wondering what to do about Luci-"

"-Is that what we're doing here?" Harry said dangerously, as he took a threatening step forwards, "To make a decision?" Harry held up his Hallows to elaborate what he meant. Chuck bowed his head in defeat for a moment.

"Yeah, Harry, I want to make sure that you know what you're doing."

"A few hours ago you were totally for me becoming your brother," Harry said acerbically. Chuck frowned.

"You don't have to _become_ my brother. You already are my brother - Harry and Chuck are brothers-"

"Damnit Chuck! You know what I mean!"

"Look, Harry, I just don't want you to feel like Dean, Sam, Gabriel or me or whatever are pressuring you to accept your grace. You can always just stay here, in Heaven and meet your parents - Lily and James Potter. You can spend an eternity with Sirius and Remus and everyone else. You don't have to do this."

Harry's smile was bitter, "Yeah, well if Amara wins, there won't be a Heaven to hide in, will there?" Harry didn't even have to wait for a verbal answer; the look in Chuck's eyes and the way his shoulders slumped downwards was enough. Sighing deeply as though the entire weight of the world was on his shoulders, Harry tossed the cloak over his shoulders and gently grabbed the stone.

He stood there like a king: a stone in his left hand, and the ruling sceptre (or in this case the Elder Wand) in his right. And over his shoulders hung a priceless cloak. "Didn't think I cleaned up this good, did you?" Harry exclaimed in an over-exaggerated show of enthusiasm after seeing Chuck's shocked expression.. Harry winked sarcastically at Chuck before saying; "See you on the other side, mate." And with that, he closed his eyes and dived into his subconsciousness, in search of the Grace locked in the Hallows.

* * *

 **Pfew, I can't believe that after 20k words, Harry is finally God's brother again. Wow. That took some time...**

 **So um... Gabriel is back! An' kickin' ass. I can't wait to fully integrate him into Team Free Will. Gabriel and Chuck are my favourite characters so I just love writing them. And omg - we have 110 reviews! I can't believe it - thank you! (also, I really, really can't believe that so many people have decided to follow and fav this story! I love all of you guys! Honestly, I wasn't very sure about posting this story in the first place, because I didn't think people would really want to read something like this. I am really enjoying writing this so I'm glad you guys like to read it!)**

 **ANs:**

 ***1:** My reasoning was that Loki's been around for aaaages. Lucifer has spent that entire time in his cage, so I think it would be reasonable that the _Trickster Loki _ managed to trick Lucifer.

 **Anonymous Reviews:**

 **Guest: Hahahah so true! Thank you!**

 **Jaden Xiang:** Hm.. I guess my reasoning was that Harry has deserved the right to be selfish. I mean, he's always so incredibly selfless in the books, I mean... he gives EVERYTHING up, so in his place I would also go 'Fuck it'. I don't think he'd feel like participating in yet another war. Anyway, thank you!

 **Guest 2:** Thank you!

* * *

 **Chapter 8 Preview:**

 _"Sasquatch - want some liquorice?" Out of nowhere Gabriel produced a pack of red sweets. Sam stared at him for a moment, before he finally shook his head and gulped down some coffee._

 _"Why are you reading the bible?" Sam finally asked. Gabriel gave him a winning smile._

 _"Well obviously 'cause I'm in it, those are the best bits after all, Sammy."_

 _"Don't call me that," Sam muttered half-heartedly. Then turning to Harry and Chuck, he continued, "Any leads on Amara? Where she is - and where she's hidden Lucifer?"_


	8. Chapter 8

**So wow, chapter 8, eh? Thank you to all who decided to stick to this story! Glad to see that you're still on our rollercoaster.**

 **I already mentioned this in my other story (which I updated today too) in which Harry is Lucifer, but I'm going to mention it again: I read HP and the cursed child in like two hours and I really strongly disliked it... Have you read it? Well... i didn't like it. but that's my opinion... Anyway, the new chapter:**

* * *

 _ **Previously:**_

 _Harry's smile was bitter, "Yeah, well if Amara wins, there won't be a Heaven to hide in, will there?" Harry didn't even have to wait for a verbal answer; the look in Chuck's eyes and the way his shoulders slumped downwards was enough. Sighing deeply as though the entire weight of the world was on his shoulders, Harry tossed the cloak over his shoulders and gently grabbed the stone._

 _He stood there like a king: a stone in his left hand, and the ruling sceptre (or in this case the Elder Wand) in his right. And over his shoulders hung a priceless cloak. "Didn't think I cleaned up this good, did you?" Harry exclaimed in an over-exaggerated show of enthusiasm after seeing Chuck's shocked expression.. Harry winked sarcastically at Chuck before saying; "See you on the other side, mate." And with that, he closed his eyes and dived into his subconsciousness, in search of the Grace locked in the Hallows._

* * *

"So how the hell are you alive - what the hell happened?" Sam asked the moment Gabriel had transported them back to the bunker.

"Yeah, and why the hell are you here?" Dean asked rudely, glaring at the archangel. Sam sent him a dirty glare.

"Dean!" Behind Sam's back, Gabriel sent Dean childish looks of 'ha-ha, he's on my side'. The older brother rolled his eyes and slumped down in one of the chairs in the library. Moments, later, Sam dropped into the one next to his turned off laptop. Gabriel snapped his finger and conjured up a large, plush armchair which vaguely resembled a throne.

"Well, obviously Lucifer didn't kill me."

"No shit, Sherlock," Dean grumbled under his breath. Apparently angels had superhuman hearing because seconds later, Gabriel was wearing a deerstalker and was smoking a pipe. Sam let out a short burst of strangled laughter. Dean glared at his younger brother in annoyance, but even the corners of his own lips were twitching upwards.

"He said: and I quote 'Don't forget, you learned all your tricks from me' and then proceeded to murder an illusion of me which he thought was the real me. But…" Gabriel pulled a deck of cards out of his right sleeve and started to shuffle them, "…He forgot that he was in the cage for a few thousand years. I've been topside the entire time, being a Trickster." ***1**

"Pick a card," Gabriel said to Sam after a long pause in their conversation. Sam gingerly took a card, looked at it and then put it back in the deck. Gabriel started shuffling again.

"So you've had Harry's grace this entire time?" Sam asked after a moment. Gabriel glanced at him searchingly, then looked back down at the cards he was attempting to shuffle.

"Yeah, he gave it to me to hide _aaaages_ ago. He was convinced that he had to keep it secret, cause if he didn't _Dad_ would come after him."

"You don't like, eh, Chuck all that much," Sam observed. Gabriel snorted derisively.

"Well I loved him; my brothers and I were created to protect and love him. Dude's an asshole though and he betrayed us."

"Not to be rude-" Dean's tone implied the exact opposite, "-But why are you still here?"

Gabriel ignored him and instead shuffled his cards a little more before finally pulling a single card out of the deck. He showed it to Sam; a king of hearts. "This one?" He asked hopefully. Sam grinned and wordlessly shook his head. Dean rolled his eyes and muttered something about Angels being dicks and never giving straight answers.

And then, just as Gabriel started shuffling the cards again, a frustrated look on his face, there was a loud sounding _crack!_ and when they all turned to see what the source was, they saw Chuck and Harry standing side by side. Harry was laughing and Chuck was rolling his eyes, and suddenly they looked like two completely normal _human_ brothers.

"You're never apparating us again," Chuck muttered, clutching his stomach, a wince gracing his face. Harry's chuckles faded when he saw the company gathered in front of them.

" _Sorry,_ if I haven't had _eons_ of practice with teleportation, Chuck," He stage-whispered to Chuck and then turned to face the little group.

It was only then when Harry gingerly approached them, that Sam suddenly noticed the differences. Harry looked pretty much the same, he was wearing the same clothes, his hair was sill just as messy and the lightning bolt scar on his forehead still stood out starkly. There was something else about him, though, that caught Sam totally off guard. The emerald eyes were brighter and now had more of an ethereal shine to them. And just the way he stood, his stature, was more official, more business-like, more authoritative. Currently, his hands were folded behind his back, and his shoulders were pulled back and his back was straight.

"I, ehm," Harry started so very eloquently. He raised a hand to his collar and jerked at it a few times, "I sort of accepted." He gulped noisily, "And I have decided to help you with your quest to imprison Amara," His voice was uncertain and when he spoke of Amara, he glanced back at Chuck seeking support. Said Primordial being smiled gently, and nodded reassuringly. Sam let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and glanced at Dean. Finally something was working, finally they were getting somewhere.

"So," Gabriel exclaimed, setting down the deck of cards and clasping his hands together, "Now that we're back in business, we can finally get to it - let's imprison that bitch!" The archangel was grinning like a fool, but when the combined glares of two other Primordial beings turned on him, he coughed uncomfortably and sat back down on his armchair/throne.

"…However," Harry continued, "I will not be siding with you-" Sam exchanged an alarmed look with Dean, "-Nor with Amara." Harry's statement caused the Winchester brothers to stare at him with confusion and Harry elaborated: "I cannot side with Amara or you, I have to remain neutral and I have to do all in my power to regain equality on Earth. This means that there has to be an even amount of evil and good, of black and white thus creating different shades of grey which culminate into one big blob containing really good, pious people, really bad evil people and really normal people with good and bad in them."

"So what, you're not gonna fight?" Dean asked, voice suddenly gravelly and slightly pissed off. Harry shuffled his feet slightly uncomfortably and finally he shook his head.

"I am going to help you in a way, by trying to restore balance between Darkness and Light, but I will _not_ destroy either one."

"I thought Amara destroyed you last time you talked to her," Sam said quietly while Chuck's closed fists tightened visibly.

Harry winced, eyes unfocusing for a moment as he recalled the memory, "Yeah I guess she did, but I managed to hide my grace in time, she - and Chuck - never knew, so I survived."

"Is this your card?" The tense atmosphere almost instantly dissipated as Gabriel disappeared and reappeared in front of Sam, holding out a card, this time the six of hearts. For a moment, Sam stared at him in shock, before a smile creeped onto his face and he shook his head, eyes twinkling. Gabriel let out a growl of frustration and disappeared completely, presumably to practice his card trick.

Chuck laughed openly, while Harry rolled his eyes. "I love that kid," Harry said finally, "The other Angels are dicks, of course."

Dean let out a strangled laugh, "You can say that again!"

"So, what do we do now?" Sam asked and the light atmosphere dropped. The tension was back instantly, as was the realisation of the gravity of the situation.

"Now," Said Chuck, "We rescue the Morning Star."

.

Locating Lucifer was apparently not that hard, the hard bit was getting him out of whatever hellhole Amara had imprisoned him in, without said Primordial being there to stop them. The humans evidently needed their sleep so Chuck and Harry stayed up, watching television and chatting every now and then. Gabriel kept teleporting away, and then reappearing with more candy.

When Sam, being a morning person, stumbled into the kitchen the next morning, he was very surprised indeed to hear loud music from the library. Blinking the morning-blurriness out of his eyes, Sam made himself a heavenly cup of coffee and made his way to the library…

…And he stumbled upon a very odd picture indeed. Someone had conjured a couch, which was currently being occupied by a laughing Harry and Chuck. They were sharing a large box of popcorn (which Sam was pretty sure he'd never seen around the bunker) and they were both staring at a flatscreen TV that had just mysteriously appeared on one of the tables. To his shock, Sam realised that they were watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta - and making fun of it as it appeared. ***2**

Gabriel, the Archangel sat a little away from the Primordial beings, and kept sending them annoyed glares. He was leafing through an ancient looking book. Upon seeing Sam awkwardly standing in the doorway, Gabriel snapped the book shut and Sam blinked in confusion as he saw the word ' _Bible_ ' plastered on it in golden letters.

"Good morning Sam!" Chuck exclaimed and suddenly all the popcorn (even the stray bits that had conquered the couch) disappeared. The sofa and flatscreen TV remained.

"…I'm not even going to ask," He said to no one in particular and sat down at on of the tables, right across from Gabriel.

"Sasquatch - want some liquorice?" Out of nowhere Gabriel produced a pack of red sweets. Sam stared at him for a moment, before he finally shook his head and gulped down some coffee.

"Why are you even reading the bible?" He finally asked. Gabriel gave him a winning smile.

"Why not?" The Archangel replied.

"I thought Archangels are supposed to know the Bible by heart or something," Sam said, after a moment. Gabriel in turn waggled his eyebrows and smirked.

"Well obviously I'm reading the Bible 'cause I'm in it, those are the best bits after all, Sammy."

"Don't call me that," Sam muttered half-heartedly. Then turning to Harry and Chuck, he continued, "Any leads on Amara? Where she is - and where she's hidden Lucifer?"

Harry and Chuck exchanged a wordless glance which seemed to encompass an entire conversation. For a moment, Sam mulled over that - they could probably talk to each other telepathically, right? After all, they _were_ Gods.

"Well, yeah, we found her hiding spot while you were sleeping. Actually Gabriel helped us with that one-" Sam glanced at Gabriel who shrugged noncommittally, "-but we haven't been able to track her movements well enough. She's specifically warded herself against Chuck and I'm still not up to my optimal power - not enough to track her down right now, anyway. We can't tell if she's with Lucifer or out for some Chinese takeaway."

Sam pursed his lips at that, it wasn't much information, but at least it was more than Sam and Dean had had a few weeks ago. "So when will your mojo be recharged?"

Harry shrugged, "I don't know, if Chuck helps me along, maybe a few centuries…?" Sam closed his eyes and rubbed his face, simultaneously letting out a long sigh. Well, at least they had Harry back.

"We've warded both Gabriel and Harry from Amara. She knows I'm back, but I'm shielding those two, so at least we have them as a card up our sleeve," Chuck said after a long moment. Sam's head was bowed as he massaged is sore neck, when he had a sudden idea and his head shot up, causing a loud pop to sound through the library. He ignored the minute pain (well, minute compared to other more painful injuries he'd had over the years), and looked from Harry to Chuck frantically.

"Chuck! You said a few days ago, that there are Natural-Born magic users right? And that Harry sort of accidentally created them - right?"

Chuck nodded slowly, and realisation seemed to strike Harry and he whistled lowly, eyes widening as a slowly stretching grin appeared on his face.

"Aww, damn," Harry said lowly, "Wizards kind of worship Merlin cause he's probably the first wizard… meaning that one of my incarnations must have been Merlin and must have passed on a little more grace than intended. Damn."

"So… they could help us, right?" Sam asked, swallowing nervously, glancing from a very silent Gabriel to Harry and then Chuck, "If they can do a little magic… well they can help us with Amara?! There _must_ be some kind of spell to track her or something!"

"…Well it worth a shot," Harry said as his eyes seemed to go out of focus and he turned his head to look past Chuck, into nothingness, evidently thinking it over.

It was at that precise moment, that they all heard a loud **_bang!_** and a few succeeding metallic **_clangs!._** Turning at the very sudden, and frankly unpleasant sound, Sam pulled out a gun from the back of his trousers (Gabriel watched his actions with a raised eyebrow and an approving look in his eye), and aimed it at the door of the bunker for as the dust settled, it slowly revealed two people.

The rest occupants of the library stared at the intruders with impassionate looks. They didn't move, or revert to battle stations. Sam however, very much valued his mortal life, and ducked under the table, only letting the top of his head look over the edge so that he could evaluate the situation. He placed his gun on the top for stability and aimed it at the couple.

The first was a man - his hair was bright red, and freckles covered almost every inch of his face. He was wearing oddly matched clothes, and in his hand he held a long, wooden stick which he pointed ahead of him as one would a weapon. His stance betrayed him as a military man. The second person was a woman - she was a little smaller than the first and had a large curly head of hair. She too held a wooden stick in her hand.

"Drop your - er - weapons!" Sam called over his table. The couple exchanged a glance and turned their heads, searching for the source of the voice. However, before anything else could happen, Harry who was still sitting on the sofa behind Sam, stood up. He was staring with amazement at the couple. Sam watched as he placed a reassuring hand on Chuck's shoulder. "Speak of the devil," Harry muttered and seeing Sam's widened eyes, he elaborated, "Not literally."

"…Harry?!" The woman called out, evidently recognising the voice. Harry turned back to them, this time smiling and he extending his arms as though welcoming them for a hug.

"The one and only!" He shouted back, flashing the couple a winning smile. Sam gingerly stood up, realising that these people weren't a threat - they at least knew Harry. Or at least the old, _human_ Harry. Almost instantly, the curly haired woman rushed into Harry's welcoming arms and buried that head of hair into his shoulder. Sam could see that her shoulders were shaking. Behind her, the ginger haired man awkwardly waited for his own hug. Once all (tearful) greetings were over, Harry beckoned Chuck, Sam and Gabriel over to him.

"Chuck, Sam, Gabriel, I would like you to meet Hermione Granger (Sam noticed that Chuck's eyes lit up in recognition at the name) and her fiancee Ron Weasley. They were my best friends growing up, we attended the same school. 'Mione, mate, this is… ehm… my brother Chuck, his… ah… son Gabriel and, well, Sam. He's a friend."

Both newcomers spoke simultaneously: "Brother?" And, "You're an uncle!"

"Yes, hello! Harry's my uncle!" Gabriel offered his hand, which 'Ron Weasley,' gingerly took. " _Pleasure_ to meet you." Gabriel's shark-smile implied that, soon, the two would be victims of his pranks. Sam shook his head exasperatedly.

Ron and Hermione shook Chuck's hand while the latter beamed at them happily, "I am _so, so_ happy to meet you! Harry's told me so much about you - wow I would love to write some books about your adventures at Hogwarts. I'm a writer you know? Oh… I would call the first book: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." Turning to Sam, Chuck addressed him, "Is that a good name? I was thinking of trying out a new pseudonym; maybe something like J.R. Rowling? Or… hm… J.K. Rowling… Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it-"

"-Chuck!" Harry interrupted his ramble with a laugh, "God! You don't shut up!" Next to him, Gabriel let out what was supposed to be a suppressed snort at the funny-not-funny pun. Then turning back to the other British wizards, Harry explained:

"I, uh, sort of found out that I had relatives in America so I decided to pay them a visit. I found Chuck and we've, uh, been hanging out for a while. We met Sam and his brother Dean, on the way, and Gabe - well - he sort of just appeared one day."

Sam grinned inwardly, finding the entire situation amusing. Evidently, Harry didn't really want to tell his friends what had really happened, and instead his half-truths had been humanised and de-supernaturalised.

"Well… I wasn't expecting that," Hermione said after a moment, but then a smile broke out on her face, "We're happy for you," She said gently placing a comforting hand on her forearm. Ron, who hadn't said much until now nodded along. And then, just as quickly as Hermione had become all nice and charming, her face transformed into something terrible and scary. She put one hand on her hip and the pointed the other at Harry's chest, and as she spoke, she accentuated each word by jabbing Harry in the chest.

"How _dare_ you not tell us anything? Six months, Harry James Potter!"

Harry wet his lips uncertainly and his gaze briefly flickered to Chuck searching for help. Sam and Gabriel laughed openly at the fact that _God's_ brother was reduced to a spluttering mess when faced with Hermione Granger. Chuck in turn, shrugged, grinning all the while as though saying: you dug your own grave.

"Eh - sorry?"

"You even left your Firebolt behind!" Ron said suddenly and Hermione sent him an annoyed, but fond glare.

"Fire- _what_?" Sam questioned, his inner geek finally coming out. His question was answered as Ron suddenly dug a hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out a thin about two inch long stick, which as soon as he had taken out into the open started to grow in size until it almost reached his shoulder.

The Firebolt, it turned out, was a broom.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Gabriel said, staring at the broom in fascination, then turning to Harry he gave him a pleading look, "Can I please, please, _please_ try it out?!"

Harry's eyes narrowed, seeing the eager look on the Archangel's face and then pulled the broom out of Gabriel's reach. "Huh, I don't think Tricksters and brooms don't mix well."

Sensing that the guests were standing around awkwardly, Chuck addressed them, "So, uh, you guys staying anywhere?"

Ron shook his head, "We came straight over here as soon as we caught Harry's magical trace, so to speak. I think I saw a motel on the way here though…" Ron trailed off, looking at Hermione questioningly. Sam guessed she was the more dominant person in the relationship.

"Pfff, motel? For Harry's friends? You guys gotta stay in the bunker!" Dean's tone was almost insultingly polite and out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw Chuck and Harry exchanging an amused glance.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, looking uncertain. Dean's shit-eating grin almost blinded Sam and he waved his hands in an exaggerated gesture of 'doesn't matter' or 'forget about it'. "Of course - make yourself at home!"

Harry uncertainly rubbed the back of his neck, before shoving Ron to the exit. "Um… yeah, I'll show you to your guest room…" And as Harry led the wizards to the archway that led to the numerous hallways, Sam swore he saw Gabriel vanishing, broom in his hands.

* * *

 _ **Preview, chapter 9:**_

 _"Chuck's God."_

 _This time, the couple's reaction was a little more dramatic._

 _Weasley had been balancing his chair backwards and now it collapsed to the ground as he jerked in shock. He landed face down on the stone floor (Gabriel winced for a moment, feeling a minute amount of sympathy and pity) and then crawled up to his feet, but stumbled (as his shoelaces were still tied up) and fell again, this time on his backside._

 _Granger on the other hand let out a short squeal of pain as her head which had been resting on her elbow hit the table. Wincing, she rubbed at her reddened forehead, although Gabriel wasn't sure whether she was doing so because of the pain or the confusion and shock. After a moment (during which Weasley massaged several body parts), Granger's head snapped up and she stared at Harry with incredibly wide eyes._

 _"And Chuck is your brother so-" Again, Harry interrupted her._

 _"I'm God's brother, yeah."_

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed that chapter! So... I kinda dislike Hermione, but I thought... technically, Ron and Hermione are Harry's best friends... they would go searching for him if he went missing for over six months. So there you have it.**

 **ANs:**

 ***1: I've got a secret obsession with magic tricks.**

 ***2: Ok, help me out here if you know something about American reality tv shows. Is that a thing? I don't watch reality tv, much less american reality tv... I just googled reality tv and that's what popped out. Thank Chuck for google.**

 **Anonymous Reviews:**

 **nono:** Thank you!


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh, God (or should I say, Chuck), I wrote this chapter like... three weeks ago. i barely remember what happens in it.**

 **Ahh, yes, Ok, I just skimmed over it; so apparently Harry finally has a face-off with Amara. Hmm.. Maybe I should read it again, just to see if I can spot any mistakes that managed to 'slyther-in'. Hahha, puns motivate me.**

 **BTW TO PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T REALISED THIS YET: I WRITE GEN FICS, _MEANING THERE ARE NO PAIRINGS. NO SLASH, NO HET. NO NOTHING_. THERE WILL BE NO PAIRINGS - and anyway, I only have one more chapter left to post and then an epilogue (which I wrote two days ago at 3am in the morning - holidays, eh?). So in the end, this story will be circa 35k, maybe 37, but that's pushing it. **

* * *

It was night and the humans were probably asleep, Harry mused, as he stared up at the night sky. The half-moon shone brightly from its place in the sky, illuminating the area in front of the bunker's garage. Harry was sitting on the hood of the impala, taking sips from his bottle of beer every now and then. The impala's radio was playing 'God bless the child' by Ella Fitzgerald.

"I didn't know you were into all that angsty crap," Said a voice from behind him and when Harry turned his head minutely, he saw Gabriel leaning against the door of the bunker; he was smirking.

Harry patted the place next to him, gesturing Gabriel to sit down. Said Archangel pulled himself onto the hood of the car which sunk a few inches as a result of their combined weight. "Chuck's watching Hell's Kitchen. Again," Gabriel murmured, explaining his presence. Harry leaned over to the side and grabbed a second beer from the cooler, this one he passed to Gabriel, even though they were both perfectly capable of conjuring it.

"Yeah I guess as God, he likes cooking. He didn't as a human."

"Well, _you've_ obviously changed too, at least your friends in there think so," Gabriel said casually and Harry's head snapped up to him. The Archangel shrugged. "Come on, dude, you'd have to be blind not to notice that you're not human anymore." Gabriel's wings ruffled uncomfortably. Harry sighed in defeat.

"I'm going to have to tell them who I really am," He murmured and Gabriel shrugged noncommittally. Finally, after a few long moments, Harry turned to Gabriel; his gaze seemed to penetrate into the Archangels very inner essence.

"And you, Gabriel, are you ever going to forgive your father?" Seeing that Gabriel's eyebrows had drawn closer together and that his eyes had narrowed down to little slits, Harry quickly continued, "Your father loves you deeply and what he did he did because he had good reasons for it-"

"You don't know what it is like to argue with your dad when your dad is _GOD_! Hell, you never even had a dad!" Gabriel said angrily but Harry didn't loose his calm composure. He placed a warm hand on Gabriel's forearm.

"I might have not had a father in the Beginning, but most of my incarnations had one. And I know, I know that they always think they're right, but you have to listen to him Gabriel. I once trusted you to hold onto my grace - to hide it. You could have done anything with my grace: but you didn't and instead you hid it well. I trust you now to also do the right thing, forgive my brother as he has forgiven you."

Harry disappeared with a loud crack just as the radio started to play the next song leaving Gabriel, the Archangel to mull over Harry's words and the lyrics of 'Knocking on Heaven's door'.

.

By noon, the Weasel and the Booknerd still didn't know about the situation, which caused Gabriel to realise that Harry was probably too much of a chicken, and maybe too attached to his old life, to say something that could possibly threaten his connection to that old life, namely his friends.

Harry had disappeared last night, and no one had seen him at all during the day. Chuck however, assured them, that Harry was quite safe, but had shielded himself from said God and any other tracking spells. So when Harry finally returned sometime during dinner, there was one collective gasp of relief. Particularly from the Booknerd.

Harry then proceeded to pull Granger and Weasley aside. Being the prankster and trickster that he was, Gabriel of course followed them. He wanted to be there to know what happened… and he wanted to be there for his Uncle if everything went south. His Uncle had once trusted him, and now Gabriel's complete and utter loyalty was the only thing he could give in return.

Of course, God's brother knew he was there, and Gabriel knew that he knew but neither did anything about it. Harry only sent him an exasperated stare when he caught sight of an invisible Gabriel tying the Weasel's shoelaces together. They all sat down at one of the tables in the library. The couple sat on one side of the table, and Harry on the other. It looked strangely official for such an intimate discussion.

"You wanted to tell us something, Harry?" Hermione asked after a moment, reaching out with her hand, possibly to take hold of Harry's. Her eyes were kind and she seemed well-meaning, but Gabriel couldn't help but feel like she _wanted_ those around her to be vulnerable so that she could comfort them. Harry didn't move to take hold of her hand, his own remained interlocked under the table.

"Yeah, well… It's actually got to do with Gabriel and Chuck," Harry scratched the back of his head and looked into the distance for a moment, looking for the right words, "See, they're not entirely human."

The Weasel smirked not unkindly and shrugged with one shoulder, "Mate, you know we don't care 'bout that." Gabriel's respect for the kid soared.

Harry grimaced slightly. "Yeah, yeah I know. But this is a different sort of creature. Before I start explaining I gotta ask - you've read parts of the bible, yeah?"

Granger nodded eagerly and Gabriel didn't suspect for a moment that she'd read it from front to cover several times. Weasley wrinkled his nose but nodded after a moment, "Uh, I know the gist of it."

"Well you know there's several types of creatures and stuff in the bible. Like… Angels and Demons and so on-"

"Harry get to the point," Granger said, rolling her eyes, unknowingly reflecting Gabriel's own reaction. Harry and Chuck really did seem to have a talent for rambling.

"Right - Ok, here goes nothing; Gabriel is an angel, well, archangel to be precise. "

For a moment the couple just stared unblinkingly at Harry, before Granger finally nodded, eyes wide, but accepting Harry's claim at face value. The Weasel's reaction was a little different: for a moment he just stared at Harry, then he started laughing and ruffled his own hair disbelievingly.

"Bloody hell, Harry, I think I'm never going to be jealous of you again. Your life is seriously, really messed up, mate."

"And Chuck, he is an angel too?" Granger questioned after a moment, she tapped a finger against her chin as her brow furrowed, "I don't remember reading about an angel named Chuck. Gabriel was pretty big though," Gabriel fluffed his wings pleasantly and Harry rolled his eyes at him; Gabriel blew him a raspberry, "He's the Messenger of God, right? But Chuck," Hermione shook her head, "Don't know an angel by that-"

"Chuck's God."

This time, the couple's reaction was a little more dramatic.

Weasley had been balancing his chair backwards and now it collapsed to the ground as he jerked in shock. He landed face down on the stone floor (Gabriel winced for a moment, feeling a minute amount of sympathy and pity) and then crawled up to his feet, but stumbled (as his shoelaces were still tied up) and fell again, this time on his backside.

Granger on the other hand let out a short squeal of pain as her head which had been resting on her elbow hit the table. Wincing, she rubbed at her reddened forehead, although Gabriel wasn't sure whether she was doing so because of the pain or the confusion and shock. After a moment (during which Weasley massaged several body parts), Granger's head snapped up and she stared at Harry with incredibly wide eyes.

"And Chuck is your brother so-" Again, Harry interrupted her.

"I'm God's brother, yeah." Harry's voice was calm and collected and his eyes were full with emotion; the most prominent being hope. Granger leaned back into her chair and pressed a hand on her stomach, the other still rested on her now clammy forehead.

"So you're a Primordial being?" Hermione questioned and Harry slowly nodded. "But the Bible…" Hermione trailed off, realising once more that her books had let her down.

"The Bible has more wrong than right. It never mentions our sister, the Darkness, or how I was forced to go into hiding-"

"I need to think, Harry… or is that your name? Do we call you Harry? Because if you prefer something else-"

"Harry's fine, 'Mione."

"Don't call me that, Harry, not if it has all been a lie!" She stood up and Harry didn't stop her as she started backing away slowly.

"It wasn't a lie…" Harry murmured under his breath as she disappeared down the hallway. Weasley stared at Harry for a moment, eyes lost as he stared at his best friend. He was still sitting on the floor. He didn't say a word as he stood up, untied the shoelaces and calmly followed Hermione. Just as he was about to disappear around the corner, Ron turned to Harry:

"You know, Harry, I've always been jealous of you for different reasons: your fame, your talent in quidditch, the fact that Hermione liked you better when we were kids, you name it. But right now, I can't ever imagine being jealous of you again. Yeah, sure, you have a family, but they hate each other and from what Sam's told us of the Darkness, she hates Humanity too. Your nephews hate their father: as far as I see it, as long as your family hates you, you can't be happy." With that, Ron gave him one last empty look, before he disappeared around the corner, in search for Hermione.

Almost instantly, Gabriel made himself visible, although he didn't really need to - Harry could see him either way.

"Well," Gabriel said, clasping his hands together, "That could have gone a teensy bit better."

.

"Chuck?" Harry called out in the main Hub. Realising that God wasn't to be found there, Harry continued his search in the kitchen where he found said deity with the Winchester boys. Hermione and Ron were nowhere to be seen, so was Gabriel.

"Ah, Harry! How very kind you are to join us here; welcome to the final episode of Hell's Kitchen," Chuck's fake British accent and his terrible Gordon Ramsay impression were so terrible that even Sam and Dean had to roll their eyes and chuckle. Chuck, clad in a chefs uniform, rolled his eyes and pulled out a perfectly done soufflé out of the oven.

But seeing that Harry was the very opposite of cheery, Chuck's face fell and he turned his attention away from the soufflé. "How'd the talk with the Natural Borns go?"

Harry wrinkled his nose and sat down next to Sam and Dean. Almost instantly, a tumbler filled with amber liquid appeared in front of him. He gulped down the entire glass, which proceeded to refill itself moments later. Sam watched him uncertainly while his massaged the back of his neck uncomfortably. "That bad, huh?" The elder Winchester said.

Harry shook his head and he swallowed another large gulp of his beverage, "Worse."

"So what now?" Sam asked after a moment. Harry stared into the distance for a moment, before his eyes focused on Chuck again.

"I want to talk to _Her_."

Chuck's eyes widened and then he turned back to the sink behind the counter. He started to passively-aggressively wash up the mess he'd made. The three people behind him heard a grumbled 'no'.

"Lift your wards, Chuck," Harry said dangerously, "Or I'll do it for you… and that will be a shitload more painful." His eyes flashed and he glanced at the brothers for a moment, before explaining, "We made an agreement at the Beginning that if one of us created something, the other wouldn't destroy it." Harry turned back to Chuck, "I intend to honour that agreement, Chuck, but if you continue to hold me here against my will, I _will_ break your wards."

"It is not wise, Harry. Remember what happened last time!"

"A 'last time' never happened!" Harry exclaimed, "I had a backup plan and it worked! She never killed me! Besides, we can kill two birds with one stone - while I try to resolve this mess, you and Abbott and Costello can grab Lucifer and run." ***1** The Winchesters looked mildly affronted at Harry's comparison.

"Chuck, just let me try this out. Yeah I'm your little brother, but I'm not hopeless and I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Uh I really hope you don't send bears to murder us when I say this-" Sam started, but God interrupted him. ***2**

"-I never really did that," glancing at Harry, Chuck scratched the back of his head and said, "Bible's wrong a lot."

 **"** **-** but I have to agree with Harry." Sam continued as though he'd never been interrupted, "This is the perfect opportunity to save Cas and Lucifer."

Chuck wet his lips and finally gave one very hesitant nod. "Yes, fine. Do it. But," He turned his powerful glare on Harry, "If shit hits the fan and Amara somehow manages to get to you… I won't care a shit about _upholding peace and balance_ in the universe: I _will_ kill her."

Both Sam and Dean shuddered at the cold, icy tone. Even they had to be reminded every now and then that this wasn't just Chuck, the friendly alcoholic prophet who liked to cook, but that he was also the real and literal _God_.

.

Chuck had lifted the wards, and now they sat in wait.

They were in the basement, waiting for Amara to show. If all went according to plan, she would catch sight of Harry, be distracted and run off after him while Chuck, Gabriel and the Winchester boys rescued Lucifer. The Natural-Borns - Hermione and Ron - had decided to put aside their grudges and unresolved problems with Harry (for the time being) and would be manning the bunker while everyone was gone.

Currently, Gabriel stood near the Humans as a sort of last measure for protecting them in case their plan went downhill, while Chuck and Harry stood a little to the side, conversing in low tones. Their serious expressions and the way Chuck kept mouthing 'no' made Sam weirdly anxious.

Dean stood next to him, expression wary and hesitant and biting on his lower lip, Sam looked away. He didn't want to see his brother in a state of hopelessness. Glancing at the Natural Borns, who were sitting at one of the tables each nursing a cup of tea, Sam decided that if they all survived this, he would grill them for answers that the original Men of Letters hadn't found. Noticing that Sam was staring at them, Hermione's head shot upwards and her gaze narrowed. Sam hurriedly looked away.

And then it happened.

It was sudden, but Sam felt her quicker than he saw her. Suddenly, the bunker's temperature sunk from a nice, cool summer climate to a freezing one. Suddenly, he was shaking, the cold reaching right into his heart and almost yanking it out. Suddenly, the lights had dimmed and a blanket of darkness fell upon them all. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw the Natural-Borns stand up, wands in hand as they stared defiantly at their new foe.

Sam's gaze slowly swung to meet Amara. She stood in front of them all, eyes cold and unforgiving. Her very stance projected power and dominating entity; her arms were stretched out and her palms faced the hard marble floor of the bunker. Sam saw with belated horror and fear, that spheres of concentrated darkness had started accumulating in those palms.

It felt like everyone was holding one collective breath of fear and perhaps of hate. Sam felt, rather than saw Gabriel shift in front of Dean and himself and when he glanced at the Archangel's hand, Sam noticed that his blade was peeking out of his jacket sleeve. His shoulders were hunched and his body was tense.

"Brother," Amara finally said, eyes fixing upon a slightly scared Chuck. Seeing God scared wasn't exactly a comfort to Sam. The silence that followed that repugnance-filled statement and was only shattered by Harry.

Said entity took a step forwards. His shoulders were similarly hunched and his posture was just as stiff, but his countenance reflected a relaxed disposition to everything going on around him. He folded his hands behind his back, but even then, Sam could see that he was flexing his hands. "Hey Sister, how 'bout you add an 's' to the end of that word?" said God's brother. Harry's voice was calm, but Sam could detect a bit of a tremble in it. The primordial being smirked lightly, as though to distract Amara and everyone else in the room from that very fact.

"Imposs-" Amara's eyes had widened in shock as they zeroed in on the person who had spoken to her. But she never managed to finish her outburst because in the next second, Harry had reached out with his hand and tapped her on their shoulder. They disappeared with a loud crack.

For a moment, everyone was frozen. Then, Chuck spun around to face his creations. His lips were a thin, pursed line and the ever present frown had deepened. His blue eyes had darkened ever so slightly; storms seemed to be churning within them. And when he spoke, his voice was commanding and deeper than usual; "Let's bring Lucifer home."

.

They reappeared in a forest. The Forest of Dean, where Harry had once been rescued by Ron when he had leapt into a frozen lake to retrieve the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Harry vaguely remembered Hermione telling him that she had once gone a camping trip with her parents in this very forest. Harry gently let his weight drop against a tree so that he was leaning against it, arms crossed.

Amara stood several metres away from him, her hands were still outstretched but her Darkness was no longer being concentrated for a direct attack. Instead, her hands had balled up into fists as she gazed at Harry with undisguised interest and shock. Harry noticed suddenly that she looked very out of place in this light filled forest.

"You're alive," She finally said. There was no emotion in her voice - it wasn't cold, nor warm, nor no longer surprised. Harry shrugged and widely stretched out his arms in greeting and as though to show - yup, here I am. Not dead.

"Surprise, bitches!" He said as though to an audience as he bowed his head in several different directions as if thanking them for the applause. Amara didn't seem to get the joke so Harry dropped the act.

"But how?" Confusion now laced her voice and Harry was almost positive (for a second) he saw a whiff of emotion in her eyes. Harry's immediate reply was a smirk and he started to slowly pace in a circle around her.

"You mean - you tried to _assassinate_ me, but how the hell am I alive?" His contempt towards her in that moment was almost impossible to hide. Amara didn't seem to detect this and instead turned her head around while nodding as Harry made his first 180 degrees.

"Well, I made a double and left it for you to murder. I passed on my Grace and became a Human. I've actually only been _me_ for, ehm a few days or so?" Harry rushed a hand through his already messy hair. "See, I've been outta the game for a while too."

Amara attempted to reach out to him, literally. "Brother-" She started, but was quickly interrupted by the Wizard-turned-Primordial.

Harry's eyes flashed dangerously as he finally reached the spot where he had originally landed. "You have no right!" He exclaimed and continued in a softer voice, "To call me that, Amara."

"I do not regret what I did," Amara finally stated, raising her chin into the air. Harry snorted, "Yeah, I bet you don't." Harry marched up to her so that he was right in her personal space. "You tried to upset the Balance of Light and Dark!" He growled out angrily. For a moment, Amara almost seemed remorseful but then, with a wave of her hand, she telekinetically threw Harry against one of the trees.

He pitifully lay there for a moment before standing up. He couldn't provoke her into a full-blown fight. Yet. His Grace hadn't fully set yet, and till it did, he wouldn't have a chance against her. Gently, Harry straightened his clothes and turned his attention back on Amara.

"Forgive our Brother, Amara, and all of this," Harry gestured at the beautiful forest. Amara seemed to take it in for the first time. "All of this doesn't have to disappear." Vaguely, Harry felt Chuck reaching out to him, tapping on his mental barriers, signifying that Lucifer had been retrieved and that Harry should get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

" _God,_ " She said mockingly, "locked me away! For eons! Because I tried to show him that we didn't need anyone else-"

"Oh, so I was just collateral damage," Harry said harshly, eyes once more flashing. Amara faltered for a moment. Harry continued with his ramble, "So; You attempted to murder me when you were less loved. Chuck had created the Angels and then came the humans. And you couldn't handle it; you couldn't handle that he loved someone more than he did you or I and you lashed out."

"I loved you, brother, but you sided with him," Amara's resolve was weakening now, Harry could see it. Uncertainty was starting to gain dominance.

"So you destroying Humanity and Earth is just you having a tantrum? A grudge - against Chuck and me?" Harry scoffed, "Don't you remember the vow we took when Chuck started creating?" He didn't give her time to consider the question and instead pressed on; "We promised to never destroy what the other had created. And _that_ was why I sided with Chuck. You were going to destroy his creations."

Harry's serious gaze intensified and any humour was now gone. "By destroying all that Chuck has created you are slowly but surely tipping the weights to your side. You are causing the Balance to shudder under the weight of the paradoxes that are starting to occur. And you know what, as the In Between, I feel that. I feel every single part of the Universe that is starting to slowly stumble. I feel the cracks appearing. Once I loved you, Amara. But if you destroy the Universe and destroy the Balance, I will _hate_ you."

And with those words, Harry briefly concentrated on the now once more warded bunker and disappeared from his beloved forest.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Oh, btw, this story is coming to an end. I only have one more chapter left to post, and then an epilogue and I'll be done. I'm currently writing a 'Harry is Lucifer' ff... But I need something else to keep myself occupied (I still have a month left of holidays), so I've set up a poll on my profile. Feel free to vote for two of the plots I've posted there. Thanks!**

 **ANs:**

 ***1:** Abbott and Costello were a comedy duo in the 40s/50s... They're quite funny. Check them out on youtube if you want to.

 ***2:** In 4 Kings 2:23-24, this guy called Eliseus was travelling to Bethel and these kids started to make fun of him cause he was bald. So he was pissed and cursed them to God. So God sent two bears to kill the children cause they made fun of a bald dude. So yeah, that's the reference. Hahha, I go to a catholic jesuit school so I know a little bit about the Bible. XD and let me tell you... the Old Testament is basically murder after murder.

 **Anonymous Reviews:**

 **Birdy:** Thank you! As usual, I'll post the next chapter next Saturday.

 **Guest:** *furiously tries to hide blush* Thank you!


	10. Chapter 10

**So, this story is drawing to a close. This is the last full chapter. I have one more to post, but that's just a short 1000 word epilogue. So... thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy reading the last few dregs of this story.**

 **Btw, sorry to my European readers... I was planning on updating at ca. 1900 CET+1 (my timezone - central Europe), but ehm... its almost 0200am here... Hm.. Sorry. Goodnight, everyone!**

* * *

"-Pretty sure that's all fathers," Dean was saying as Harry reappeared in the bunker. He immediately warded himself so that no one could see him safe for Chuck and perhaps Gabriel. Harry wanted to see the drama unfold. Faintly, Harry felt a wave of foreign relief wash through him and after a moment he realised that that was Chuck acknowledging his safe return to the bunker. He didn't give any other indication that he knew Harry was there.

Sam and Dean were sitting on the steps, awkwardly watching Lucifer's and Chuck's conversation. Gabriel was leaning against the archway, facing Chuck and the back of Lucifer's vessel. He was glowering at the latter. With a deep sigh (which caused Sam to briefly confusedly look his general way) Harry moved to stand at Gabriel's side.

"So, who's winning their pissing contest?" Harry asked after a moment, watching as father and son conversed. Gabriel continued glowering at the back of Lucifer's head.

" _Dad_ is trying and failing to apologise. Lucifer's gained Sam and Dean's support and considering the Devil tried to kill them several times, I'd say that was a bonus," Gabriel flashed him one short glance and then continued staring at Lucifer as though he'd grown a much hated second head. "And I'm trying to decide who I currently hate more, Lucy or Dad."

Harry hummed for a moment and turned his attention back on the two. "-All he wants is an apology, and you're to concerned about being right to give him one. But apologies aren't always about being right. Sometimes, they're just about apologising," Sam was saying and Harry had to give it to him. It took more than a delusional, foolhardy but brave Gryffindor to speak to God like that.

"Yeah, and the great thing about apologies is you don't even have to mean 'em. Y'know, I lie and tell Sam I'm sorry all the time," Dean continued with a nervous smile. Seeing Sam's look of utter exasperation he scratched the back of his head. "Ehh, sorry, man." After a moment, Dean realised what he'd said and visibly brightened. Gesturing at Sam, he grinned widely, "See? That's it! Heh."

Next to Harry, Gabriel snorted and rolled his eyes. "Seriously, if the Winchesters aren't pillars of salt by the evening, I'll start to wonder what's happened to God."

Harry's lips twitched upwards for a moment. Chuck seemed to be fighting the urge to roll his eyes; he seemed equally as exasperated with Dean and Sam as Lucifer was. "Enough from the peanut gallery," He muttered, and waved his hand. Instantly, Sam and Dean were unceremoniously deposited in two chairs in the slightly elevated area above them.

"What?" Chuck finally said, turning to Lucifer. His voice was a notch higher than usual. "What would you have done?"

Lucifer seemed to shake his head, "It doesn't matter. You are my father and you forsook me." Gabriel had by now started to nod along, as though agreeing with Lucifer. Enemy of my enemy is my friend, indeed. The youngest Archangel was staring at Chuck intently, as though very interested in what Chuck's answer would be.

"I did," Chuck finally admitted in a small voice. "I was supposed to love all creation equally. I wasn't supposed to have favourites. But you…. You were mine." A glance at Gabriel showed an unchanged emotional disposition. However, Harry could see his golden eyes narrow slightly in resignation and self-hatred.

"Remember how everyone called Lucifer the Morning Star? How everyone adored him so? How much I loved my brother?" Gabriel muttered after a moment. Harry nodded wordlessly, and placed a hand on the Archangel's shoulder in silent support.

"I gave you the Mark because I loved you the most, because I thought you were strong enough to bear it. And when i saw that I was wrong… When I watched my choice devour my most cherished son, I hated myself, and so I punished you. And I am so sorry." As Chuck said his final confession and apology, he briefly glanced at the invisible Gabriel and Harry suddenly realised that this was an apology pertaining his eldest sons; the Archangels. And for a moment, Gabriel and Lucifer both stared at their father with hope and forgiveness.

Then with a theatrical wave of his hand, Harry raised the invisibility charm on himself and Gabriel while simultaneously transporting the Winchester brothers back onto their floor. Clasping his hands together, Harry grinned at them all (he particularly enjoyed Lucifer's shocked expression as Harry released his tight hold on his own Grace and flooded the bunker with his presence). "Right-o. Let's get to work."

"Eh, Chuck said you were alright - what happened?" Sam finally asked, breaking the complete silence that followed Harry's statement. Said being rushed a hand through his hair, lost in thought for a moment.

"Well, she said a few nasty things, I said a few nasty things. She's still pissed and I'm still pissed at her. End of story." Chuck's expression told Harry that he knew perfectly well that everything hadn't gone as Harry was reporting it. Lucifer, however, seemed to ignore that for the time being and instead stood up harshly, twisting around to stare at Harry. His chair even tumbled to the ground.

"You!" Lucifer exclaimed, shock, envy, a slight bit of hate and horror culminating in his eyes. Harry waggled his eyebrows in a very Gabriel-like fashion.

"Yes, me. Surprise, Lucy! Not dead!"

"B-But you died! I watched Amara do it!"

Harry gave Lucifer a mocking grin, "Yeah, and thank you so much for assisting her with that."

"You did what?!" Gabriel exclaimed instantly, marching up to Lucifer, who's eyes only widened more when he realised exactly who Gabriel was. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Sam and Dean slowly inching towards one of the doors, evidently trying to keep out of this family spat. Lucifer however seemed to shrink under the combined accusing stares of Chuck, Gabriel and Harry. "Surely you knew what would happen to the Balance if you did that?!" Gabriel continued, voice tense.

Harry sighed and moved up to Gabriel's side. Once more, he put a hand on the Archangel's shoulder. "Peace, nephew. Back then, he was young and and idiotic." The 'and still is' went unspoken. "Hell, I remember a time you didn't even know what beer or women were," Harry said after a moment, glancing at Gabriel with a smirk. His tense posture seemed to deflate slightly and he leaned backwards. Gabriel however, continued to glare at his brother. Dean, however was quietly snorting behind his hand; Harry assumed because he was imagining and innocent and naive Gabriel.

"I swear, you guys have more family drama than all of the Kardashian's put together," Dean said loudly and a short laugh escaped Harry's lips. He tipped an imaginary hat to the Winchesters in the universal gesture of 'well done' and 'yeah, you're right'.

"Hypocrite," Harry said with a snort of a amusement. Curiously, the Winchesters averted their gazes from each other.

"Did you attempt to reason with _her_?" With Chuck's question, the mood which had lightened up a little came crashing down again. Harry rolled his eyes at the tactless question and propped himself onto one of the tables.

"Yeah, I did. She wants revenge, Chuck. She's dead-set on it," Harry said, tilting his head to the side as he spoke. Sam tugged at Dean's jacket and pulled him over to the small group standing and sitting around the table.

"Revenge for locking her up in the cage?" Questioned the tallest but youngest Winchester. Harry pursed his lips and shook his head.

"Unfortunately no," Replied the Wizard.

"She wants revenge 'cause - back in the day - I loved my creations more than I loved her. She got pissed and this is the result," Chuck waved his hand vaguely.

"And now, by locking her up you're going to enrage her even more," Lucifer muttered interlocking his hands under his chin. Chuck rubbed his hand against his face in a show of tiredness and exasperation.

"Yeah, what will you have me do?" His question was almost rhetorical, but Lucifer answered anyway: "Kill her."

Slowly, Chuck lowered his hands and gazed at his son with an unreadable expression. Behind them, Harry could see Dean gesturing at Lucifer with the universal gesture of 'see - finally someone's making sense'. Evidently, he hadn't understood what Harry had explained earlier on about not disturbing the Balance. And then, turning his attention back to his brother, Harry suddenly saw something break in those eyes. Chuck agreed with Lucifer. He wanted to 'gank' Amara.

Enraged, Harry slammed his hand against the table causing Lucifer to jump slightly. Even Gabriel's shocked gaze swung at him, unused to seeing his uncle loose his temper. "We are _not_ killing Amara." The Winchesters exchanged a nervous glance. But Harry ignored all of this; instead his accusing and blazing eyes dug into Chuck's.

"There is a more peaceful way out, brother," He hissed out. "I agreed to imprisoning her, although I was hesitant about that already. We will _not_ kill her," He repeated with finality.

Chuck suddenly seemed twice - thrice - his size as he slowly stood up. Lucifer, still sitting between them scampered out of his seat and joined a scowling Gabriel. Their eyes were blazing as they stared at each other defiantly. Chuck's blue met flashing green as they stared each other down.

"What will you have us do, then? Hm?" Chuck bit out again, but this time, the question wasn't rhetorical, and it wasn't directed at Lucifer. "What - you want to talk it out with her? Meet up with Doctor Phil? Have a little family reunion? _What_?!"

For a brief moment, Harry closed his eyes so that he didn't end up blowing the bunker up with his temper. When he reopened his eyes, he saw that the Winchesters were both staring at him and Chuck, fear clear in their eyes. And Harry suddenly realised that Humans weren't supposed to fear them. They were supposed to love and admire Chuck and him - maybe even despise and abhor them, but never fear. Harry deflated completely, turned to face the table and placed his palms on the smooth surface.

"Yeah. Talk," He finally said. Chuck blinked for a moment, both at the sudden transition from anger to calmness and at the short statement.

"Talk?" Chuck questioned quietly. Harry nodded once and then swung around to gaze at the Archangels and the Humans.

"Yeah. We talk. And work everything out," Harry's eyes widened as an idea very suddenly popped into his head. "OK, everyone, tell me what the largest racial groups are." For a moment, everyone stared at him, confused, but soon, Chuck and the Archangels seemed to catch on.

"Obviously the prettiest of them all," Gabriel said with a smirk, "The Archangels are one-"

"Demons," Lucifer said, effectively interrupting his brother. Harry held up a finger every time one of them named a group.

"Humans too, obviously," Sam exclaimed, seemingly catching on to what Harry was nudging them towards. Harry held up a third finger and then excitedly turned to Chuck.

"And…?" He prompted. Chuck's expression was slightly vacant as though he was seriously considering what Harry was proposing.

"And the Natural-Borns," Chuck finally said. Harry held up the four fingers, "Exactly!" He exclaimed. The bunker was silent as everyone considered the proposal which hung in the air. Well, everyone that is, except for Dean who stared at them all as if they'd suddenly gone bonkers.

"Ok, ok, ok, wait up. Explain everything to the simple, ape-like Humans over here," Said the elder Winchester, looking completely lost. Sam jabbed his elbow into Dean's stomach and murmured 'Jerk' to which Dean automatically replied with 'Bitch'.

Harry sighed. Ah, Humans, they never failed to surprise him, both with their lack of abstract thought and with their ingenuity. "Essentially, Dean, we have four large racial groups: the Humans, Demons, Angels and Natural-Borns. The latter are technically Humans, but their ability to utilise the energy in their soul has mutated over time; the catalyst for this mutation being me-"

"What Harry is saying," Chuck said interrupting him before Harry could go full-on geek on them, "Is that we can call a 'Paris Peace Conference' but instead of creating the 'Treaty of Versailles' we create a peace treaty between the Demons, represented by… say, Crowley and Lucifer; the Angels, represented by Gabriel; the Humans represented by you - the Winchesters - and myself; and finally the Natural-Borns represented by Harry and his friends Hermione and Ron. Amara represents herself. We are the proverbial Allies forcing Germany to pay reparations. If we all reconvene in one room, our collective force would technically be able to overpower Amara - she then _has_ to accept the treaty." ***1**

Dean's gaze said it all. His glance to Sam read '…but isn't ganking her easier?'; the younger Winchester, however was tapping his chin with his pointer-finger thoughtfully as he nodded along. Finally Dean crossed his arms and seemed to petulantly accept their newest plan.

"Yeah. Exactly like that," Harry said, nodding gratefully at his brother. Chuck briefly placed a hand on Harry's forearm in a show of 'fine, we'll do it your way'.

"So," Gabriel said finally, clasping his hands together and capturing their attention completely, "Let's get this freak-show on the road!"

.

Sam closed his eyes briefly, as he sat down next to Dean at the large, round table which Gabriel had conjured up in an abandoned Warehouse near their bunker. Chuck - God - sat on Dean's other side and he kept shooting the Humans nervous glances as though he himself wasn't very sure that this plan would work.

Lucifer sat opposite them, looking totally bored as he picked at his teeth with a toothpick, although he probably hadn't eaten anything since he'd taken over Cas' body. A put-out-looking Crowley sat next to him, shooting Lucifer anxious glances. Sam supposed that Crowley had been thoroughly traumatised by the fallen Archangel during his recent brief reign in Hell.

Gabriel sat next to Lucifer; he too looked bored and was munching on a never-ending twix bar, well it seemed that way anyway. Every time Sam looked his way, he saw Gabriel taking huge bites from the same bar of chocolate. Shaking his head in exasperation at the Archangel, Sam turned his attention on the other members of the new Treaty.

Sitting at the table were also Harry and his two Natural-Born friends; Hermione and Ron. They sat there with stony faces. It seemed that whatever grudge they had had against Harry, had been stowed away for the time being. Harry, however in all of his Primordial glory, seemed nervous and kept trying to engage them in an awkward conversation.

Oddly, Sam felt like something pivotal was about to happen. And he realised that logically, yes, it was. The most powerful forces of this universe were about to meet to propose a Treaty to enforce as much peace as possible between them. The three primordial beings, the Devil, the Archangel, the King of Hell, the Natural-Beings and the Humans - Dean and himself, could if they chose, commence a war against the others and thusly completely destroy the Earth, if not the universe. The power the beings beings in the room held… well, it was just outstanding. And sitting there, right now, Sam realised that he could almost taste it, he could feel it prickling against his skin.

The double-doors to the warehouse very suddenly imploded. For a moment, Amara was merely a silhouette. Then she started marching towards them; the light streaming through the broken windows sharply illuminated her face and body. Dark shadows marked her cheekbones and breasts… Her mere presence seemed to cast a shadow over them all. Her marching pace faltered slightly as her eyes swept through the faces staring up at her from the table, some with hope, others with horror and fear. Evidently, she was quick to understand that the collective company in the room would be able to overpower her, and she seemed to hold back for the moment.

"What is the meaning of this!" She demanded. Amara looked as though she would start smiting that very moment - she even seemed to raise her hand to call upon her Darkness - but her face seemed to constrict and she grimaced. Chuck pursed his lips nervously.

"We are restricting your power momentarily, Sister," Chuck gestured at the various runes and wards that had been painted in blood and paint all over the walls and ceiling of the warehouse. "In fact, all of our powers are currently being restricted so as to promote neutrality." Amara blinked at him, not exactly comprehending what was happening.

Harry stood up from his seat, walked around the table and pulled out a chair for her. "Please, sit. We have much to discuss."

Slowly, the Darkness sank into her chair, suspiciously staring at them all. She snapped her fingers, attempting to conjure something (or at least, Sam hoped it wasn't anything more sinister), but nothing happened. Harry smiled, but the smile was cold and unforgiving.

"Sorry, Amara, but that won't work here." With that, he walked back to his seat.

Chuck cleared his throat and began: "We have called a meeting to address current issues," He glanced accusingly at Amara. "That have infringed the agreement Harry, Amara and myself made at the Beginning of Time. We agreed never to destroy or murder anyone or anything that either one of us created. Your revenge has blinded you Amara, and you have killed Angels, Humans, Natural Borns and Demons alike."

"We," Chuck said, gesturing at everyone sitting at the table, "Are willing to forgive you if you give up your quest of destruction and execute your revenge on me - personally. Our ultimate goal is peace-"

And so the politics and diplomacy began. Sam had originally began studying law at Stanford and he watched the proceedings with fascination. His brother, however, was slowly sinking ever deeper into his chair. He seemed quite aware that this was quite a pivotal moment in history, but he wasn't a politician or a diplomat. Dean was a hunter, a fighter. He didn't belong in the large court rooms or on podiums.

They sat at that table for hours, resolving issue after issue; something that should have been done eons ago. The fact that nothing like this had ever been done, resulted in more issues to resolve than they had time. This wouldn't be the last meeting, Sam suddenly realised.

But as he gazed at the different parties, each sitting in their designated spot and all staring at Chuck intently as he spoke, Sam realised that this was the start to world peace among the different factions. And a start was always good.

* * *

 **So... A pretty anticlimactic last chapter. I hope you liked my solution... But at the end of the day, this story wasn't - isn't - about killing Amara, but more about family and friendship and trust. So... the background story is just that - in the background. Hermione and Ron had a small cameo in this chapter... But I don't like 'em much so... XD**

 **Anyway, I'll be posting the epilogue soon; I hope it makes you smile (I was sorta grinning while writing it, but hell, I'm biased).**

 **Oh, and btw, since this story will be ending soon, I have set up a poll on my profile so that you can vote on what my next story should be about!**

 **ANs:**

 ***1:** The Paris Peace Conference, also known as Versailles Peace Conference, was the meeting of the Allied victors, following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. (source: Wikipedia)

 **Anoymous reviews:**

 **nono:** You never fail to write a review so thank you so much!

 **birdy:** Thanks! I hope you liked this chapter!


	11. Epilogue

**Oh wow. This story is done. *pats myself on the back* did you guys know that this is the very first story I have ever finished? I have many stories that are much longer, but they're not finished... I just can't finish them. Authors block and stuff. I am so proud of this story; I have consistently updated every saturday for 11 weeks. Oh wow. It took almost three months to write this. Wow.**

 **Anyway, I cannot even begin to express my thanks to all of my loyal readers. It has certainly been an awesome ride with you guys! I hope this little (cute) epilogue leaves you guys smiling... I'll appreciate all reviews you send my way, whether they be good or bad...**

 **Thank you!**

* * *

 _"_ _So, Samalam-"_

 _"_ _Don't call me that, Gabe," Sam said exasperatedly as Gabriel scooched up next to him on the bench in the park._

 _Gabriel ignored him, "Remember that card trick I did a few years ago? Ha! Well, I figured it out!"_

 _"_ _Dude," Sam said with a snort of amusement. "I don't even remember what card I had."_

 _Gabriel rolled his eyes, "What, and you think_ **I** _do?" He smirked, "Nah, I remembered how the card trick worked and where I put the card when doing the card trick."_

 _"_ _Yeah?" Sam uttered, turning his body to face the ex-Trickster. "So where has it been this entire time?"_

 _Gabriel's eyes glinted with amusement and he waggled his fingers. "Check your wallet, Gigantor."_

 _Sam rolled his eyes, but his desire to prove Gabriel wrong won out and he pulled the wallet out from his jeans pocket. He smiled briefly at the picture in his wallet; Dean was playing baseball with his grandchildren; in the background stood a large suburban house and through the window, Sam could could see Gabriel throwing a turkey-Thanksgiving-pie at Castiel. Harry, Chuck and Amara sat on the rooftop, both looking as young as they had when Sam and Dean had originally met them._

 _"_ _Oi, oi, oi. Just because you're brother died after living to ninety, doesn't mean you get to go all angsty-Sammy on me. Come on, look into your wallet."_

 _Rolling his eyes again, Sam's old trembling fingers searched through his wallet, which was for once devoid of any false FBI IDs. And then suddenly, he saw it - the joker card. It was jammed between his two fake credit cards. Grinning, he pulled it out and nodded. "Yeah, that was my card."_

 _Gabriel's face lit up happily and he clasped his hands, "Oh! Finally!"_

 _"_ _Wait… You seriously waited over sixty years to finish that card trick?" Sam exclaimed, coughing slightly as his lungs protested. Old age was no joke. Gabriel smirked and waved a hand over his face._

 _"_ _Hel-lo? Trickster?"_

 _._

It was an odd diner. A vintage one, with booths and a vinyl recorder playing music over loudspeakers. The booths were separated by screens so as to give the patrons an illusion of privacy. The long counter was filled with empty bottles of various brands of alcohol as though the owner hadn't bothered to clean up after last night's football night.

Even curiouser, were the large mahogany bookcases that lined the walls, each filled with books on various topics. Some looked ancient, some relatively modern - although in a place such as this, where time was relative, it was hard to say what was ancient, what was old and what was modern. Among these books, were the Supernatural books once written by the lonely, alcoholic Chuck Shurley. Also among these books were the world-wide famous Harry Potter books which the same author had written under the pseudonym of J.K. Rowling.

The oddest thing, however, was probably the small vortex that had very suddenly appeared on one of the walls. And then that small vortex started growing, expanding as it slowly sucked more and more objects into it. Slowly but steadily serviettes, books, cutlery, bottles and the like started to get sucked into it.

Harry watched as the paint slowly peeled off the walls and entered the vortex of time. As he watched this very destructive force, Harry also very suddenly felt at peace. He watched the flakes of paint gently float to the floor and then get picked up by the draft and then get sucked into the vortex.

The three of them sat at a corner table, enjoying their last sips of their favourite drinks in silence. All three of them stared at the vortex, watching as all they had created was slowly ripped apart into shreds. After a moment - it could have been hours, weeks or even eons; their concept of time was long gone too - Amara raised her tumbler for a toast. Her two brothers raised their's too.

"To Humanity," She murmured, a gentle smile crossing her lips. Harry gently tapped his tumbler against her's and Chuck's. "To Humanity," He and Chuck echoed quietly and gulped down the last few dregs of their beverages.

Hadn't Death once said that at the end, he would reap God too? Well Death was gone, Harry could feel it, Everyone was gone. Dead. So was most of humanity and pretty much the entire world that Chuck had created at the Beginning of Time. But as all things had a beginning, they also had an end. For that was the reason that time was ending, and it was taking it's original creators along for the ride.

They had lived their time; they had fulfilled their function and Harry felt oddly at peace with that. They - the three of them - had given Humanity the gift of life, they had taught them, they had nearly destroyed the world several times, but at the end of the day - or rather of time - Harry supposed that a lot more good had come out of it than bad.

Reaching up to touch the lighting bolt scar that he had decided to keep all those years ago, Harry smiled. He smiled as he remembered that life, the one filled not only with despair and sadness, but also with happiness and joy, that life that had taught him so much about Humanity and their virtues and follies.

Time had swallowed Humanity already, and was about to do so with Chuck, Amara and himself. But as Harry looked into the vortex of time, he contently closed his eyes. It was time for them to go and he would willingly do so. They had served their duty. Harry let his hand drop to the side as images from _that_ life crossed his mind's eye and he realised that a lot of shit had happened to a lot of people but that now… _all was well._

 _The End (literally^)_

* * *

 ** _Dear Reader,_**

 ** _yes - you. The person reading this right now... wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever gender you identify with, whatever your age, whatever country you come from, etc. etc. I love you. Thank you for giving this ff a chance and I hope to see more of you in the future! (wow, I'm sappy)_**


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